Enough Is Enough
by 0nce Upon My Story
Summary: I, Lily Evans, just kissed James Potter. Voluntarily. There is, of course, a logical explanation - I was sick and tired of Severus following me around and constantly trying to apologise to me. Marlene suggested a fake relationship with Potter to keep him away, and I foolishly agreed. So here I am. James Potter's fake girlfriend. Hooray.
1. Chapter 1 - Of Snapes and Selwyns

**A/N: This story came to me after I discovered the brilliant world of James/Lily fandom (Turning Tables by scaredofclouds – highly recommended if you haven't read it!) **

**For the purposes of this story, I shifted Lily and Snape's big fight by the lake to after their sixth-year exams instead of after their fifth-year OWLs. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in Harry Potter (all rights go to the brilliant J.K. Rowling) nor do I own the first couple paragraphs of Chapter One (I copied them directly from The Deathly Hallows).**

**Any plot ideas you recognize from _To All The Boys I've Loved Before_ are the property of Jenny Han and Netflix.**

* * *

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not interested."

"I'm sorry!"

"Save your breath."

Lily gave Severus an icy glare as she folded her arms over her white dressing gown.

"I only came because Mary told me you were threatening to sleep out here."

"I was. I would have done. I never meant to call you Mudblood, it just –

"Slipped out?" Lily asked, her voice hard and pitiless. "It's too late. I've made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Death Eater friends – you see, you don't even deny it! You don't even deny that's what you're all aiming to be! You can't wait to join You-Know-Who, can you?"

Severus opened his mouth, but closed it without speaking. Lily went on irately, glad to have a chance to speak what had been on her mind for so long.

"I can't pretend any more. You've chosen your way, I've chosen mine."

"No – listen, I didn't mean –"

"- to call me Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?"

He struggled on the verge of speech, but Lily just gave him a contemptuous glare and climbed back through the portrait hole.

Mary was waiting for her. "Did he give you trouble?" her friend asked, obviously feeling more than slightly guilty. Lily shrugged.

"He tried to apologise. I didn't accept. We fought," she said shortly.

"I'm sorry for sending you out there," Mary said apologetically.

"I don't blame you at all," Lily reassured, giving Mary a somewhat bitter smile. "It's entirely Sev's fault."

* * *

To Lily's relief, there were only three weeks of term left. She avoided Severus as much as she could, but he still managed to find her and try to apologise to her eight more times.

Lily arranged to spend the first two weeks of her summer with Mary in Cornwall to minimise her chances of seeing Severus. She was very glad she had, because her mother's letters informed her that _'the Snape boy who used to be your friend came knocking at our door no less than twenty-nine times in the last ten days.' _

Lily was even happier when she read her mother's next letter. "Mrs Macdonald, would you mind awfully if I left a day or two later than we'd planned?"

Mary's mother, a jolly Scottish woman with absolutely no magical blood, said she'd be delighted to put Lily up for a few extra days.

"Not that I mind, Lily, but why d'you want to stay on?" Mary asked her as they strolled along the beautiful Cornish beaches later that morning.

"Mum said that they'll be driving past here on their way to Newquay Airport on Saturday, so it really makes no sense for me to go home now only to come back in two days' time," Lily explained.

"Great!" said Mary. "Then you'll be here for Sarah Selwyn's birthday do. She's turning seventeen, and they're holding a big party for her. It'll be great fun- her parents are rich as anything."

Lily said nothing, but gave a cautious smile. Mary seemed to sense her hesitation and smiled reassuringly. "It'll be great, Lil! I know you don't usually go to this kind of thing, but I'm sure you'll have loads of fun."

"It's not that," Lily sighed. "It's just that I've never been to a pure-blood's manor before, and I don't know if I'd be welcome."

Mary frowned. "You've been to Marlene's plenty of times," she corrected. "And they're definitely pure-bloods."

"Well, yes, but they're _not_ crazily rich or prejudiced. They accepted me as Marlene's friend with open arms."

"Oh, don't worry about _that," _Mary said comfortingly. "The Selwyns are perfectly friendly towards Muggle-borns, and Sarah's best friend is Kate Fallow, a half-blood like me."

Lily rolled her eyes. "You're not going to give up till I agree, are you?" Smirking, Mary shook her head.

"Fine, but _you're _buying my dress," Lily said, smiling angelically at her friend. It was Mary's turn to roll her eyes, while Lily looked on with a self-satisfied smirk.

"I suppose I'll have to," Mary said good-naturedly. "But all that in its time. Are you up for a swim?"

* * *

"No way," Lily said, for what must have been the seventeenth time at least. What had possessed Mary to let_ Marlene_ choose dresses for Lily?

Marlene scowled as she flung the dress onto the ever-growing pile at the foot of Mary's bed. "You can't say no to _everything, _Lil," she grumbled, reaching for the next candidate. Lily shook her head at that, too, and cast her eyes skyward.

"I knew I shouldn't have agreed to go to the party," Lily complained as Marlene showed her a particularly skimpy black dress.

Mary peeked over the rim of _Enchanted Adventures _to raise an eyebrow at her. "It's just a dress, Lily, how bad can it be?"

"Bad," Lily snapped as she rejected a backless green dress with a roll of her eyes. Mary just shook her head and went back to her reading. She'd given up on Marlene and Lily almost as soon as they'd started, and Lily couldn't blame her. She was very near giving up herself.

Marlene gave Lily an appraising look. "Alright, alright, I'll return all these, I can see they're not your style. But you've got to try this one on for size before I hand anything back in. It'll look great, I just know it."

Lily studied the dress in question with a very critical eye. It wasn't as low-cut or revealing as the others, but it would still only reach her mid-thigh. Shaking her head, she held out one hand for the dress.

Lily changed quickly and rushed towards the nearest mirror. She gawked a little at what she saw, then grudgingly admitted that Marlene had been right. This dress looked fantastic on her.

The dress sat comfortably around her middle, making her look even slimmer than she already was. The neckline was a very modest scoop, with broad straps that sat surprisingly elegantly on her shoulders. It rippled outwards a little from the waist down, the dark blue folds lying prettily just above her knees.

Mary and Marlene cheered when they saw Lily in the dress. "I knew it, I knew it!" Marlene sang, twirling Lily around the room. "This blue is _so _your colour!"

Mary chuckled at her friends' antics. "Great! Now that you're _finally _done, shall we go down for lunch?"

Marlene released Lily at once and sped down the stairs. Lily gave Mary a grin and dashed down to follow, only stopping when Mary yelled "Hey, remember to change back into your normal clothes before you eat! It'd be such a shame to spoil this lovely dress!"

Lily hared back up the stairs and changed as quickly as she could, before joining her friends for a picnic lunch by the sea.

* * *

Lily smoothed the dark blue fabric of her dress as she waited for Marlene to finish in the bathroom. _Honestly, you'd think she was trying to drown herself in makeup the way she goes on sometimes!_

Mary smiled at her, and the two shared an eye roll. Marlene may have been their best friend, but some of her habits were heartily annoying.

"Took you long enough," Lily greeted as Marlene finally appeared. She was wearing a short red dress with a deep V-neck, sky-high red heels, bright red lipstick and red flowers in her blonde hair.

Mary was also looking pretty, albeit in a much less eye-catching fashion than Marlene. Her dress of choice was soft cream trimmed with real flower petals, and her makeup was also a lot less dramatic.

Mrs Macdonald bustled out from the kitchen and stopped short, admiring the girls. "That looks very nice, you three! Here are your invitations, by the way, they arrived by owl a few minutes ago."

_Lily Evans, _it read in graceful cursive at the top, followed by Sarah's address for apparition. _I'm delighted that you could come, _Sarah had scribbled on Lily's invitation.

Lily smiled, completely reassured of her welcome now, and checked the address again. "Selwyn Manor, Newquay, Cornwall," she said clearly as she turned on her heel to apparate.

A second later she arrived on the expansive green lawns of Selwyn Manor. Lily blinked in awe as she looked around her – the Selwyns were even richer than she'd thought!

Lily recognized Sarah Selwyn standing in the doorway between two Roman-style pillars, and Kate Fallow climbing the sprawling marble stairs to greet her friend.

"Come on, Lily," Mary called, striding confidently past the marble gargoyles on either side of the steps. Lily followed slightly nervously, but Sarah's exuberant greeting soon put her at ease.

"You look fantastic," Lily complimented. Sarah brushed a hand over her silky rose-coloured robes and smiled graciously. "Happy birthday!" Lily added hastily, and Sarah's smile grew.

A tall, kind-looking woman who closely resembled Sarah (her mother, Lily guessed) shepherded Lily and her friends through the door.

"Most people are in the banquet hall, there's snacks and everything there," Mrs Selwyn said, pointing through a set of mahogany doors.

Lily swallowed the last of her nerves and walked lightly into the indicated room. She gasped at the sheer size of the room – it was about as big as the Great Hall in Hogwarts – and admired the extravagant decorations.

'SARAH'S SEVENTEENTH!' exploded in fireworks above Lily's head as she stepped through the door. She grinned, impressed, once her original shock had passed.

"Lily!" she heard an excited voice call. Scanning the crowds of people for its source, she soon spotted Venus Jones and Fiona Finnigan, her Gryffindor dorm-mates, waving at her from beside the punch table.

Lily strolled over, smiling at Marianne Corner (a Ravenclaw she knew from the Slug Club) on her way. Venus and Fiona were nearly total opposites – where Venus was petite and beautiful, Fiona was average-looking and more heavily built. Where Venus was graceful but shy, Fiona was opinionated and rather accident-prone.

Lily greeted both girls with affectionate hugs. She had a great liking for them both, although they weren't close friends by any standards. They chatted pleasantly for a couple of minutes, before Lily saw Marlene waving her over from the far side of the room.

Politely excusing herself, Lily made her way over to Marlene, but froze when she saw who her friend was talking to. She was just about to turn away, but to her dismay, Marlene spotted her and called her over.

Dragging her feet, Lily walked as slowly as she reasonably could to Marlene's side. "Hello, Remus," she greeted the sandy-haired Marauder affectionately, then turned her eyes to the other two and said, in a much colder tone of voice, "Potter, Black. A pleasure, as always."

"Evans," Potter greeted, nodding his head politely. Sirius Black just smirked at her and continued flirting with the wide-eyed girl beside him. Lily gave Marlene her best death glare, then smiled warmly at Remus Lupin. "How are you, Remus?"

Looking faintly amused, Remus replied, "Oh, very well, thank you." Lily nodded, opening her mouth to say something more, but Potter interrupted. "I'm well, too, thank you for asking."

Lily treated him to the same icy glare Marlene had received, then continued to talk to Remus as though nothing had occurred. Potter rolled his eyes, but turned to speak to Marlene.

Faintly surprised, Lily gave him an appraising look and missed the next question Remus asked her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I missed that," she apologised easily.

Remus gave her a slight smile and repeated, "I asked if you'd seen dear Severus again during the holidays?"

"I'm glad to say I haven't," Lily said, her tone cold and hard. "Nor do I have any wish to. Our friendship is over, and I wish he'd understand that!" She'd spoken a lot louder than she'd intended to, and she blushed when Marlene and Potter sent her questioning looks.

"Maybe you should just let him apologise-" Remus began, but Lily cut him off before he could finish the sentiment.

"Absolutely not. He's chosen his way, and I've chosen mine. I've told him – repeatedly – that we're over, and there's nothing anyone can do to change that."

Remus nodded understandingly. "So would you be willing to consider new friendships?" he asked, casting a furtive glance over at Potter as he did so.

Lily snorted. "Not with James Potter or Sirius Black, that's for sure," she said firmly.

Remus was watching her intently. "They're really not so bad," he told Lily, and his tone was far more intense than she was prepared for. "James regrets that day by the lake more than anything else, I think, though he won't tell anyone."

Lily gave him an odd look. "Why are you telling me this, Remus?" she asked, letting her confusion seep into her tone.

"Because James is really, genuinely sorry about destroying your friendship," he replied, and his voice was so sincere that Lily almost believed him. _Almost. _

"I thought he'd be thrilled! Splitting the guy he hates from the girl he fancies?" Lily sniffed in her best imitation of her sister Petunia.

"James isn't like that," Remus said firmly. "He's a much better person than you give him credit for. And as for _the girl he fancies, _I think you'll find that's changed. He's dating Rosamond Fairbourne now."

Lily blinked, surprised. Why hadn't it occurred to her that Potter might date someone? Of course he'd date. He was a teenage boy, and – dare she say it – handsome.

Now that she thought about it, Potter hadn't attempted to ask her out since that disastrous day by the lake. Was it possible he didn't like her anymore?

A slow smile spread across Lily's face. "That's the best news I've had all year," she informed a bemused Remus, hugging him delightedly. Remus patted her back awkwardly, but when she pulled away, there was an odd, almost regretful, look on his face.

He was soon smiling again, but Lily couldn't shake the feeling that something was definitely off about him. First he was trying to persuade her to be friends with James Potter, then he was looking _disappointed_ that she thought Potter dating was a good thing.

Lily tried to forget Remus's puzzling behaviour for the time being and focused instead on having a good time. She even chatted a little with Rosamond Fairbourne (Potter's girlfriend) then wished she hadn't, because all Rosamond was interested in talking about was Potter.

"Don't you think James is the handsomest guy in the school?" Rosamond gushed yet again. Lily kept herself from rolling her eyes with no small effort and managed a polite, "Well, that's going a bit far… Maybe the handsomest in our year."

Unfortunately for her, Potter chose that exact moment to lean in and kiss Rosamond on the cheek. Raising one eyebrow, he smirked, "Didn't know you found me so attractive, Evans."

Lily blushed to the roots of her hair. "I couldn't very well tell your _girlfriend _I thought you were the least desirable guy in school, now could I?" She was proud of herself for sounding so calm and collected, but wished the fiery colour still painting her face would disappear.

Potter nodded, giving her a cheeky grin as he took Rosamond's hand and led her onto the dance floor. Lily exhaled, relieved, and felt some of the warmth leave her cheeks.

"That's a lovely colour on you," drawled the deep, melodic voice of Sirius Black as he attempted to drape an arm over Lily's shoulders.

"No, I won't dance with you," Lily replied, smiling sweetly at Black's surprised face as she slipped out of his embrace.

Lily made her way as gracefully as possible away from the banquet hall and headed outside. She always found it easier to calm down when she was outdoors, especially when she could look out over a body of water. The Selwyns' pool wasn't quite the Hogwarts lake, but it was still far bigger than any pool Lily had ever seen before.

Settling down on the marble tiles, Lily gazed dreamily at the gentle ripples in the blue water. She sighed contentedly as her embarrassment and irritation faded away into tranquillity.

"Evans! There you are," a deep, very masculine voice interrupted her dreaming.

"Go away and leave me alone," Lily said without opening her eyes. Blatantly ignoring her, the person grabbed her shoulders and shook her thoroughly.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry if this first chapter was a bit boring, I find that my intro chapters often are. Next one's better, I promise! (Also, the _To All the Boys _plotline really only starts in the next chapter) **


	2. Chapter 2 - Of Smiles and Second Chances

**A/N: As I was writing this, I noticed that the _To All The Boys _plotline _still _hasn't started yet, despite what I said in my last Author's Note. Sorry about that.**

**On the plus side, this chapter has a nice long James/Lily argument (for some reason I _love _writing those), some more of Mary and Marlene, and a smidgeon of Lily/Petunia interaction. I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

Lily whipped around and nearly smashed into a very surprised James Potter. All her calm, peaceful feelings vanished in an instant and she snarled, "I thought I told you to leave me alone, Potter."

Potter raised both hands defensively. "Whoa, Evans, don't bite my head off immediately. I came to apologise."

Trying to hide her surprise, Lily kept her voice icy as she replied, "I've had more than enough apologies to last me a lifetime, thanks."

Completely ignoring her, of course, Potter sat down next to her by the pool. He stared out at the magically floodlit waters, his expression distant and unreadable. "I know you probably won't believe me, Evans, but I really am sorry about that day by the lake."

Lily didn't reply. Potter sighed and said, "You know, Evans, you'll always hate me if you don't let me apologise."

"Maybe that's what I want," Lily said coldly.

Potter glared at her for a moment, then shook his head firmly. "This isn't you, Evans. You don't hate anyone. You're the kindest person I know."

Lily was touched, but she would never let him see that. "Well, you do hang around with Sirius Black for the most of your time," she said snippily. "And no-one's ever called him _kind."_

Potter actually laughed at that. "You've got a point there, Evans. But look, I'm tired of being the one person you single out to hate."

"You're not," Lily said, her voice colder than ever now. "I hate Severus even more than you now. What he did is unforgivable."

"I would never call you a…what he called you," Potter said, and his voice surprised her with its sincerity. "I'm not like that."

"You _are_ a bully, a braggart and an overly-arrogant git," Lily informed him. "I can't just _forget _all those times you hexed people for _fun."_

Potter nodded. "But you could give me a second chance."

"No," Lily said flatly.

"I've changed, I promise you that!"

"Well, I haven't," Lily snapped.

"At least give me a chance, Evans! How bad could I be?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe you'd ask me out immediately afterwards, then hex my best friend when I say no?"

"I'm dating Rosamond now, Evans, or have you forgotten?"

"Like that means anything! You have no honour," Lily hissed.

"Well, neither do you! I'm trying to apologise and you're yelling at me!"

"I'm not yelling!" Lily shouted, then winced. "I wasn't planning to! You were being a git!"

"I was trying to _apologise!"_

"And I was trying to enjoy a nice, calm stroll through the gardens!"

"You were _sitting."_

"I was going to go for a stroll! Not that it's any of your business."

"I know, I'm sorry," Potter said, still a little more loudly than what would be considered normal. Lily nodded curtly.

"To get back to the point, Evans, will you forgive me for-"

"Ruining six years of my life? How about _no."_

"Be reasonable, Evans! I'm not going to stop harassing you until you accept my apology."

"Oh, so you admit that you're harassing me?"

"You're bloody impossible," Potter groaned, burying his head in his hands. He stayed like that for a while, and when he finally raised his eyes to meet Lily's, there was bitterness in his glare.

"I think I understand, Evans," he said coldly.

"Excellent, so we can skip the hexing and you can just leave right now."

"You don't want to hex me," Potter said, his voice more certain than she'd like. "You want to hear me out."

"What I want is to Apparate far, far away from here and never lay eyes on you again."

"If you'd wanted to do that, you'd be long gone."

"Are you _trying _to make me leave?"

"Of course not, I'm just telling you the truth."

"Fine, then. Say your piece." Lily turned her back on Potter and studied the little waves in the pool.

Potter grabbed her shoulders – again – and spun her around to face him. "I'm not apologising to your back, Evans."

Not giving Lily any chance to retaliate, Potter went on, "So here's what I think...no, I know...your situation is.

"You're mad at Snape – and me – for that day by the lake. Honestly, I can't blame you. I can see why you can't forgive Snape. But I _can't _see why you won't forgive me.

"I'm trying to _change, _Evans. I'm trying to make up for my behaviour over the last six years, and you won't even consider giving me a chance. Why?

"Let me tell you why. Because you're _afraid, _Evans. You're afraid to let me in, because you're scared I'll let you down like Snape did."

"Ridiculous," Lily snapped, but it sounded hollow, even to her own ears. "You're just trying to harass me, as usual."

"Is that really all you think of me, Evans?" Potter's voice was soft and deadly. Somehow, Lily preferred the yelling.

"You've never given me any reason to think anything else," she said, fighting to keep the tremor out of her voice.

"Which is why I'm trying to apologise."

"Well, you're wasting your time, and mine."

"You're so... gah. I don't know why I'm even trying."

"I don't, either," Lily said coldly. "Just go, Potter."

"You can't get rid of me that easily, Evans. Ask any of my friends and they'll tell you.

"Another thing to ask my friends: have I ever let any of _them _down? The answer is _no, _Evans, and it always will be."

"That's all very nice, but you've been nothing but an arrogant prat to me for too long."

"Can't you even give me a chance?"

Lily hesitated, just a moment, but then shook her head firmly. "No."

Potter turned away, his fists clenching and unclenching with anger. "You're so bloody heartless sometimes, you know that, Evans?"

Lily glared at his back. "Only with people who deserve it."

"Why do _I _deserve it?"

"Uh, where have you been for the last six years?"

"I've changed!"

"How can you be so sure?"

Potter shrugged, but wouldn't meet her eyes. "If you can give Severus Snape a second chance, surely I can get one one too?"

"Sev was my friend," Lily said simply. "Friends deserve any number of second chances."

"Then let me be your friend. Let me prove to you I'm capable of changing my ways."

"I've never wanted to be your friend, Potter," Lily said harshly. "You never showed any decent qualities."

Potter glared at her. "Merlin, you can be so unfair! Here I am, trying to apologise and make up for what I've done, and you accuse me of having no decent qualities."

"You were never like this before," Lily defended. "You kept trying to ask me out and get my attention and generally make yourself my number one enemy."

"Like I said – repeatedly – that's changed. I'm sorry, okay, Evans?"

Lily gawked at him openly. "Did James Potter just admit to me, Lily Evans, that he was wrong to be such a git all the years we've known each other?"

Potter winced. "Maybe?"

"Say that again," Lily said, drawing her wand. Potter promptly raised his hands and leaned backwards, muttering, "Careful, Evans."

"I'm not going to hex you," Lily reassured. "I just want to record your apology so I can play it to all my friends."

"No way!" Potter said, his tone so indignant that Lily had to laugh. Noting this, Potter said quietly, "Does that mean you forgive me?"

Lily smiled slowly. "I suppose it does."

"Are we friends now or what?"

"No way!"

"Come _on, _Evans!"

"You may have apologised, but I don't call people my friend till they can prove they're worth it!"

Potter stared at her, eyes glinting as he acknowledged the challenge. "Fair enough. But you have to give me the chance to prove myself, at least."

Lily nodded. "Agreed."

Potter smiled at her. "Brilliant! Then, to prove I really can change, I'll leave you in peace for a while."

"You do that," Lily said, failing to keep the surprise out of her voice.

Potter saluted, grinning hugely as he jogged off.

* * *

"Interrogation time," Marlene said the minute they landed in Mary's bedroom after the party. Lily blinked, confused.

"What Marlene means to say is _what were you doing with James Potter by the Selwyns' pool?" _Mary questioned.

"Nothing!" Lily said defensively. When both Mary and Marlene sent hugely sceptical looks her way, she relented. "Fine! He apologised. I accepted. That's _it," _she added in response to Marlene's raised eyebrow.

"How did he apologise?" Mary pressed.

"He said he was very sorry, blah blah blah, but I refused to accept. We yelled at each other for a while, then he actually guilted me into agreeing to give him a second chance."

Mary and Marlene exchanged glances. "Are you sure that's what happened?" Marlene asked, raising one eyebrow.

Lily scowled. "Of course I'm sure, Mar! I was _there, _remember?"

Marlene had the grace to look slightly guilty. "Of course, Lily, sorry," she mumbled.

Mary gave her a knowing look, saying in a haughty voice that didn't suit her at all, "I was right all along, then, wasn't I?"

"Right about what?" Lily queried, narrowing her eyes at Marlene. Her blonde friend looked even guiltier, mumbling a "nothing" that was about as convincing as Lily's had been earlier.

"Brianna Jorkins told Amy Abbott, who told Lisa Jordan, who told Alice Prewett, who told Hestia Jones, who told Venus, who told me that you and James were yelling at each other over the Selwyns' pool – "

"That's true," Lily admitted.

" – and that you ended up snogging after pushing each other in," Marlene finished in a rush.

Lily groaned. "Brianna Jorkins is so much like her sister, wouldn't you say? When Bertha was still in Hogwarts, she loved nothing more than making up lies about me and James secretly snogging."

Marlene nodded fervently. "Sorry for believing her, Lily," she said, sounding thoroughly ashamed of herself.

"Oh, it's all right," Lily said, surreptitiously flicking her wand to Summon some of Marlene's special Honeydukes chocolate. Marlene's apologetic dejection vanished in a second, replaced by shock and indignation. Scowling, she pushed Lily off the bed.

Lily just laughed at her. "Deeeelicious," she said, making a big show of licking her lips. "I must say, Mar, you only keep the finest in your hoard."

"It's not a hoard!" Marlene protested. "It's a _store."_

Mary chuckled. "Hoard."

Marlene twirled her wand and shot off an excellent Tickling Jinx, causing Mary to start giggling uncontrollably. Rolling her eyes, Lily muttered the counterjinx.

"Spoilsport," Marlene muttered. "Mary never laughs that much."

Lily grinned. "You guys are one... er, two of a kind," she said.

They laughed and joked together for the rest of the night.

* * *

The next day, Lily's parents (accompanied by a scowling Petunia) arrived to pick her up. Lily reluctantly said goodbye to her friends and got into her parents' car. Even though she was officialy allowed to Apparate, she chose not to for the novelty of driving and flying.

She did, however, show off a bit of magic for her parents' benefit. Charles and Jasmine Evans were enraptured by the simplest of transfigurations, while Petunia scowled moodily out of the window.

_"Linteum musculus," _Lily said, and Petunia yelped as her napkin turned into a white mouse. Lily's parents chuckled along with her, but Petunia was definitely not amused.

Feeling sorry for her sister, Lily restored the mouse to its original napkin form with a wave of her wand. Petunia's cold glare made Lily's heart twist, and she scooted across the aisle and settled in a window seat.

The Isles of Scilly were as beautiful as ever. Lily smiled delightedly at the familiar turquoise waters and white sand beaches, her regret over her deteriorating relationship with Petunia fading almost immediately. She _loved_ coming here on holiday.

As the plane was coming in to land, Lily happened to spot an all-too-familiar head of messy black hair. She froze. _He _couldn't be here!

Lily looked closer, breathing out a sigh of relief when he turned around. It wasn't him. It wasn't Potter.

"That's a relief," Lily muttered to herself. "I wouldn't have been able to bear a _month _in Potter's company, let alone a holiday!"

She stared at the back of the black-haired youth's head. The real Potter's behaviour had been so… different at the Selwyns' party. She could barely believe he was the same boy who'd bullied and taunted Sev – and made _her _life a misery – for her first six years at Hogwarts.

Come to think of it, Potter hadn't asked her out since that disastrous day by the lake. He also hadn't bullied Severus since – at least not that she was aware of – and she'd actually come across him _tutoring _a group of first-years in Levitation Charms.

It was bizarre. Why was Potter suddenly going through this miraculous change? What incetive could possibly motivate him to change his behaviour so drastically?

Little did Lily know that she would be receiving the answer in her Hogwarts letter, which was en-route to the Isles of Scilly at that very minute.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you guys found this chapter a little bit more exciting than the previous one, even though it didn't have any _To All The Boys _action in it yet… that really _is _starting in the next chapter, just so by the way. **

**If you liked it, please do leave me a review! I really do appreciate them **


	3. Chapter 3 - Of New Friendships Forming

**A/N: Here we are, guys – chapter three. As you may or may not have guessed from the title, it's about Lily's burgeoning friendship with the Marauders, especially her fellow Head. **

**I feel that I should add that though this is a Harry Potter/To All The Boys I've Loved Before crossover, the ****_To All The Boys _****part falls under the category of "loosely based on." For instance, there will ****_not _****be any love letters in this story – try as I might, I could not figure out how to get that to make logical sense. There are still, however, definite plot elements from ****_To All The Boys, _****and you might recognise some dialogue from the Netflix movie. **

**That should be all, then. Enjoy chapter three!**

* * *

Lily was sprawled on her towel on the beach when the Hogwarts owl dropped her letter on her lap. Lily ruffled its feathers, subtly glancing around at her fellow sunbathers. Fortunately, none of them had noticed the owl. With a final pat, Lily sent it on its way.

Eagerly, Lily tore open the envelope and unfolded the familiar yellowish parchment. She smiled to herself as she began to read it.

_Dear Miss Evans,_

_Please note that the new term will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross Station, platform nine-and-three-quarters, at eleven o'clock. _

_We are delighted to inform you that you have been selected as the Hogwarts Head Girl. We have enclosed a full list of the responsibilities and privileges that come with this esteemed position. _

_You will find a list of your new schoolbooks enclosed. _

_Sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

Lily gaped at the letter in shock for a few minutes. Head Girl! What an achievement! Her parents would be so proud. _She _was so proud!

Fingers trembling slightly, Lily tugged out the booklist and scanned over her new books. There were only two new books to be purchased –_The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 7 _and _An Advanced Study of Defence Against the Dark Arts. _

Lily read over the other list – the list of her duties as Head Girl – with a huge grin on her face. She had double the amount of responsibilities as her prefects, and also double the amount of privileges. She read on.

_The Head Boy and Girl have a private dormitory, bathroom and study each, as well as a shared common room. These apartments can be found up the staircase at the back of the Prefects' Corridor. _

_The Head Boy for 1978 will be James Potter of Gryffindor House. _

Lily blinked, stunned. Then she re-read that last sentence several times. It stayed the same every time.

Potter was Head Boy. _James Potter was Head Boy! _

This would need a _lot _of getting used to.

* * *

Platform nine-and-three-quarters looked strange and unfamiliar without the usual bustle and chaos of the crowds. As Head Girl, Lily had Apparated to the platform half an hour earlier to make sure she was the first there.

Well, nearly the first. The Marauders had beaten her to it.

"Evans!" Sirius Black called, waving her over. "Congratulations on getting Head Girl!"

Lily nodded at him, then turned her gaze to Potter. "So. You're Head Boy," she said.

"I am," he agreed, watching her warily.

"Could you leave us alone for a minute, please?" Lily asked the other three Marauders, her eyes never leaving Potter's face.

"And leave our best mate to the mercy of Lily Evans? Not likely!" Sirius began, but Remus shoved him bodily away from Lily and Potter. "Do try not to kill him, okay, Lily?" he asked over his shoulder.

When the other three Marauders were well out of earshot, Lily met Potter's gaze squarely. "I'll be honest with you, Potter. When I read that you were Head Boy, I was shocked. I didn't know what Dumbledore could possibly see in you.

"But I intend to find out. I'm Head Girl and you're Head Boy, which means we'll have to put our personal differences aside and work together effectively as a team. I am willing to try, for the sake of Hogwarts and because that's what Dumbledore expects of me.

"But you need to work with me. As the Muggles say, _it takes two to tango. _We can only be a team if you and I both make some allowances for the other, and try to change some aspects of our personalities.

"I was chosen to be Head Girl, and it's a great honour for me. I fully intend to be the best Head Girl that Hogwarts has ever seen. And I won't let anyone get in my way. So, Potter, are you going to be with me or against me this year?"

Potter, who had been staring stupidly at Lily throughout her monologue, recovered his wits enough to nod rapidly. "I'll be with you, of course, Evans. It's just as much an honour for me as it is for you, and I'll do whatever it takes to prove it to you."

Lily smiled. "I'm glad we see eye to eye, then. For the sake of Hogwarts, let's agree to put aside our differences and work together as the penultimate Hogwarts team!"

She held out her hand, and an obviously surprised Potter shook it. "Differences aside," he said, in a slightly awed voice. "You won't regret it, Evans, I promise you that."

Lily smiled at him. "Good. I don't intend to."

* * *

Somewhat to her surprise, Lily found herself actually enjoying working_ with _Potter instead of against him all the time. He was dedicated and thorough, and just and fair at all times. He did almost more than his fair share of their Head duties, and he was full of intelligent and useful ideas and suggestions.

She found that she didn't mind sharing a dormitory with him nearly as much as she'd thought she would – he was always polite and considerate, and never intruded in her personal space.

As part of their agreement, both of them made concerted efforts to be friends with the other's friends. Despite this, Lily was still sometimes caught unawares by the sight of Marlene and Sirius studying together, or of Remus helping Mary with her Defence homework.

The Marauders were far more pleasant company than Lily could ever have imagined, and she found herself turning a blind eye more often than not when it came to their outrageous pranks. That is, provided that Potter had no part in said pranks, and that they were harmless to all the parties involved.

Her one complaint had little enough to do with Potter and a lot to do with his girlfriend, Rosamond Fairbourne. Lily found it heartily annoying to be forced to listen to her endless stories of what a _fantastic _snog Potter was, and how "absolutely knee-weakeningly amazing" he looked in his Quidditch uniform.

But even that was easy to live with compared to Severus's daily attempts to catch Lily unawares with an apology. It was after a particularly trying day that she collapsed on her bed complaining her heart out to Mary and Marlene.

"I wish he'd just _leave me alone!"_ Lily said for what must have been the fifteenth time at least. Mary, who was drawing up a star chart, nodded sympathetically but didn't even lift her head.

"You've got Neptune in the wrong place," Marlene advised, leaning over Mary's work and studying it with a critical eye. "Oh, and Lily, if you're that serious about getting Snape to leave you alone, just hex him already."

"I'm Head Girl, remember?" Lily said, and peered over Marlene to look at Mary's chart. "No, Marls, Neptune is right, but Jupiter is off by about five centimeters. And its moons are Europa and Ganymede from this angle, not Io and Callisto."

Mary groaned and reached for her wand to fix the mistake. "Thanks, Lily, I owe you one."

"I'll owe you if you can think of a viable method to get Severus off my case," Lily said, burying her head in her hands at the thought of him.

Mary stared into the distance for a while, then shook her head sadly. "Sorry, my friend, I can't think of anything. Try asking Potter."

"Say that again," Marlene said suddenly.

"Er... sorry, my friend, I can't think of anything. Try asking Potter," Mary repeated, with a puzzled glance in Marlene's direction.

"That's it!" Marlene said, clapping her hands.

Mary and Lily just stared at her in confusion. She rolled her eyes.

"It's simple, really. Just be friends with Potter!"

"I don't follow," Lily admitted, and Mary concurred with a puzzled nod. Marlene sighed deeply.

"You are a pair, aren't you? It's the simplest thing in the world, and neither of you can see it."

"Well, don't leave us in suspense," Lily huffed impatiently.

"Let me spell it out for you," Marlene said, and began to speak particularly slowly and articulately. "Just...be...friends...with...Potter."

Mary groaned. "You said that already, Mar. Neither of us can see how it'll possibly help Lily."

"Well, apart from the obvious _it's-better-for-both-of-you, _Potter was and still is Snape's worst enemy. If you start hanging around with Potter and the Marauders, Snape will most likely avoid the lot of you like the plague."

Lily blinked. Now that Marlene had said it, it _did _seem rather obvious. "That... might actually work," she and Mary said at the same time.

"I know, I know, I'm brilliant," Marlene said smugly. Lily rolled her eyes, but had to give it to Marlene.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll try it tomorrow."

* * *

Lily and her friends sat down with the Marauders at breakfast the next morning.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?" Sirius Black asked, his eyes lingering just a bit too long on Marlene's loose top button.

"Put a cap in it, Black," the lady in question scoffed, but Lily thought she saw a hint of red paint Marlene's cheeks. She hid a smile as she plopped down between Remus and Potter, resolving to tease Marlene about Black at the first chance she got.

"Morning," Potter greeted, then went back to flirting with his girlfriend. Lily rolled her eyes and turned to talk to Remus, quickly starting an engaging conversation about grindylows and whether or not they resided in the Black Lake.

Marlene's plan proved to be working rather well, as Severus didn't try to apologise even once. In fact, Lily saw very little of him for the next week, which was definitely a good thing.

Unfortunately she couldn't go _everywhere _with the Marauders, and Severus soon figured out when she had a Marauder-free period and caught her by surprise.

"What are you doing, hanging around with Potter and his friends?" he demanded as Lily was leaving her Arithmancy class.

Lily was immediately on the defensive. "I can be friends with whoever I like," she said, trying to shove past Severus. He blocked her stubbornly.

"Have you forgotten what they did to us? To _me?" _Severus asked, his voice rising with anger.

"Have you forgotten what_ you_ did to _me?" _Lily countered, her voice sharp and angry.

Severus winced. "You won't let me forget, Lily! You won't even _try _to forgive me!"

"I told you before, and I'll do it again if I have to: our friendship is over. _Over, _Severus. You chose your side, I chose mine. That's it."

"We can still be friends, Lily! You know I would never say –"

"Do I know that? Do I? No, _Snape, _I don't. I haven't forgotten that day by the lake."

"But you've forgiven Potter!" Sev – no, Snape _–_ protested.

"Potter's changed," Lily said simply. "If Dumbledore thinks highly enough of him to make him Head Boy, that's good enough for me."

Whirling around, she marched away from a shocked Snape. As she rounded the corner, she smacked head-first into a guilty-faced Potter.

"What the...?" Lily snarled.

Potter held up a hand. "I can explain!"

"You'd better," she hissed.

"Right. Of course. Sorry. So, I was looking for you-"

"Why?" Lily snapped, her anger still not spent.

"I needed to ask you about patrols, Evans! Remus is ill and can't take his shift, so we need to rearrange the schedule. I wanted to check with you before I made the changes."

Lily blinked, surprised. That Potter could be so _reasonable..._

"Anyway, as I was coming around the corner, I heard your voice. You were saying you could be friends with whoever you liked. Then I heard Snape, and I was about to rush in and defend myself and you –"

"I can defend myself, thanks," Lily interrupted, annoyed.

" – and then you were speaking again. You stuck up for me, Lily. That means a lot to me." His hazel eyes were serious as he looked at her.

Lily found herself uncomfortable for some reason and lowered her gaze. "Yeah, well...We're a team now, aren't we, Potter?" It was only after she'd spoken that she realised he had called her _Lily. _

Lily. Not Evans – _Lily. _Her first name.

"That we are, Evans," Potter replied, a crooked smile flickering briefly over his face before morphing into his trademark smirk.

And it was gone. They were on surname-basis again.

"Are you going to say anything else?" Potter asked, stopping and quirking an eyebrow at her. "It's not like you to be so quiet."

"I might," Lily teased. "If you ask nicely."

Potter's smirk appeared again, wider than ever now. "I know a few ways to get a lady to do what I want."

It was Lily's turn to raise her eyebrows. "Flirting, Potter? Need I remind you that you already have girlfriend?"

Potter shrugged, suddenly awkward, and wouldn't meet her eyes. "Uh, yeah, about that..."

Lily groaned. "Don't tell me. You broke up."

"And now the poor Head Boy is all alone, without even a pretty face to cheer him up," Potter said, with mock despair. "Oh, what _shall _he do?"

"Stop flirting with the Head Girl, for one," Lily sniffed. "She's not interested."

"I wouldn't be too sure," Potter said in a sing-song voice. "She's blushing oh-so-red!"

Lily put a hand to her cheek. "The Head Boy's eyes are playing tricks with him."

"The Head Boy's wearing glasses, remember?"

"How could I forget such a crucial detail?" With a flick of her wrist, Lily knocked Potter's glasses off his nose and scooped them away before he had time to react.

"Hey!" he protested, chasing after her as she sped away.

Lily giggled to herself as Potter clumsily tripped over the doorstep. "Catch me if you can!" she sang, racing over the grounds with Potter in pursuit. Narrowing her eyes, Lily made for the Quidditch pitch.

Potter caught up to her halfway there and flung out an arm, catching Lily around the waist. She struggled, and as she slipped out of his grasp, she tripped and fell flat on her back.

Potter immediately crouched next to her, offering his hand to help her into a sitting position. "Up you come, Evans," he said pleasantly.

Lily pointed where his glasses had fallen. "I'm sorry, let me get those for you. _Oculus reparo. _There, good as new." She awkwardly tucked his glasses back behind his ears and blushed a little.

As she fussed with his glasses, Lily saw something that made her groan with dismay.

It was Snape, and he was heading directly for them.

* * *

**A/N: Yes, I really am going to leave it there. No prizes for guessing what comes next, though. **


	4. Chapter 4 - Of A Kiss & Its Consequences

**A/N: I've decided to be kind and keep most of my notes to the end, since I'm sure you really don't want to read my babbling now. **

**I am going to bother you for just a little bit longer, though – to say thank you so much to the five people who have followed this fic - JuliaHulten, Junnistaken, Kwng, Lisa Sally Lee and seriusfanhp.**** It really means a lot to me, guys. This chapter is specially for you.**

* * *

_"Oh, no, no, no, no, no! Not now!"_ Lily thought, dismayed as she watched Snape approaching grimly from the castle.

A reckless, spur-of-the-moment idea flashed through Lily's head, and on a whim, she decided to act on it. Taking a deep breath to steel her nerves, Lily muttered to Potter, "For the love of all that is magical, Potter, play along now."

Then she kissed him.

To his credit, Potter gathered his wits remarkably quickly. After staring at her dumbfounded for a few seconds, he kissed her right back.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Snape stop dead, mouth hanging open. She pulled away enough to mutter, elated, "It's working!"

"I won't even ask," Potter replied, his face still centimetres from hers. Lily kissed him again, relieved when he immediately responded in kind.

Honestly, she wasn't even sure exactly how much time had passed. It couldn't have been more than a minute, but it definitely wasn't any less than that either.

One thing she _did _know was that when she lifted her head again, Snape was gone. And James Potter was staring at her expectantly, all too clearly waiting for an explanation.

Lily didn't know what to say. She looked everywhere and anywhere except at Potter's face, her cheeks flaming red. Her nerve deserted her when she did look into his eyes, and she leapt up and fled towards the castle, completely ignoring Potter's calls for her to wait.

* * *

"What did I do?" Lily asked her ceiling, not even bothering to hide the horror in her voice. "I'm pretty sure I just ruined _everything."_

Obviously, the ceiling had no reply. That didn't stop Lily from pouring her heart out to it, though.

"Potter was just starting to get…well, decent…and then what do I do? I go and kiss him. There's no way he'll understand…" she broke off with a sigh and moodily flung a pillow at the poor ceiling.

Feeling suddenly hungry, Lily grumpily stood up and marched out of her room. Checking briefly that Potter was nowhere in sight, she made her weary way towards the kitchens.

Lily was a great favourite with the house-elves, and she was immediately accosted by several of them offering all kinds of delicious snacks. "Thank you so much!" Lily laughed, tucking in to an apple pastry and pulling a honey-yoghurt drink closer.

"Hey, Evans!" an all-too-familiar voice called from her left. Lily nearly choked on her drink and turned slowly to face Potter.

"So, what are you doing here?" she asked, in a desperate attempt to sound casual.

"Oh, I just came to sample some of the chocolate milk. Sirius says it's not to be missed. If you wouldn't mind," he smiled at the nearest house-elf, before shifting his attention to Lily again.

"Cool," she said, not meeting his eyes.

"Actually, I asked to Mary and Marlene, and they said I'd probably find you here. We need to talk, Evans."

Lily squirmed in her seat. "Well, then, fire away."

"Look, Evans, I'm flattered, I am, but Rosamond and I _just _broke up…"

"Are you trying to reject me right now?"

"Uh, well, yeah, I guess."

"James Potter, I am not trying to date you." Lily was relieved that her voice sounded so certain and unshakeable.

"Your mouth is saying something now… but then your mouth _said _something completely different." He pointed a thumb backwards.

Then, "Thank you…Mittie, right?" to the house-elf as she placed his chocolate shake in front of him.

Deciding it was best to clear up the situation as quickly as possible, Lily said, "Okay, er, so here's the thing. I don't actually _like _you. I just needed to make it _look _like I liked you so that somebody else would realise that I definitely don't like them and never will."

Potter nodded. "Oh, okay. Who?"

She blinked. "What?"

"You've got to tell me who this mystery admirer is, otherwise, I'll just go on believing that Lily Evans has a secret crush on me," he clarified.

"No!" Lily shook her head violently, simultaneously refusing to tell him and denying that she had a crush on him.

"Oh, so shall I just tell the rest of the school that Lily Evans just jumped me, James Potter, by the Quidditch pitch?"

"Okay, okay, fine, fine. Um…it's Severus Snape."

Potter's face darkened. "Figures."

Lily shuffled awkwardly in her seat. "So, are we good here?"

"Uh, ye…yeah," Potter affirmed, his voice only slightly doubtful.

"Okay, great," Lily said, standing up and crumpling her napkin onto her plate. She made as if to leave, but Potter called her back.

"Wait, wait, wait! Are you walking back alone?"

"Yeah," Lily said, smiling to cover her confusion.

"It's past curfew, Evans, you'll get in trouble if you're caught. I'll walk you."

"And who says _you _won't get caught?"

"Please, Evans. I might be Head Boy now, but my Marauder habits will never die completely."

Her smile widening, Lily took his outstretched arm and allowed him to lead her back to their dormitory.

She paused with her hand on the door. "Ah…thanks for walking me, Potter."

He shrugged. "Not a problem, Evans."

"Oh, and…er, sorry for jumping you back then."

Potter's grin became a smirk. "Could have been worse."

Lily rolled her eyes at him, but chose not to comment. Deep down she was even a little flattered, but she would never, ever admit that to anyone, least of all Potter himself.

"What are you going say to Snape?" Potter asked, surprising her.

"I hope I won't be speaking to him for a long time," Lily answered honestly. "There's no way I'm going to tell him the truth, though."

Turning away from him again, Lily opened the door and started climbing the stairs to her private dormitory.

"Hey, hold on," Potter called, jogging up the steps behind her. Unlike the ones in Gryffindor tower, these didn't turn into a helter-skelter when his feet touched them.

"What if you didn't tell anyone the truth?" he asked, spinning her around to face him.

She blinked, startled. "Wait, what?"

"What if we _let _people think we were together? Just for a little while. And not just Snape – I mean _everybody."_

Lily chuckled, half-amused and half-shocked. "Why would you want that?"

"Well, for starters, when Rosamond heard you'd kissed me, she went nuts. I figured that if I could get her jealous enough, she'd want to get back together."

"Ohhh, so you want to use me as your pawn."

"Hmm, well, see, _technically _you used me as your pawn first when you jumped me."

Seeing the obvious denial on her face, Potter backtracked, "Look, you don't need to give me an answer _now. _Just think about it, okay?"

"Yes, well, don't hold your breath," Lily remarked, opening her door and closing it again in Potter's face.

Lily collapsed on her bed again the moment Potter's footsteps retreated down the stairs again. "There's no way I'm agreeing to this," she informed her ceiling.

"I mean, it'll never work out. For starters, there's the fact that no-one in the school will ever believe it. And if they do, they'll either mock me about finally _'giving in' _to Potter, or they'll hate me for taking the 'handsomest guy in school' out of the dating market."

A treacherous little voice in her head argued back at her. _"But you've never cared what other people think, and neither has Potter. Besides, not everyone in the school will hate or mock you – some people are genuinely nice!"_

"Genuinely nice people are the minority," Lily said, fully aware that she was having a conversation with herself. "And I happen to have two of those rare specimens as my best friends. I can't just _lie _to them, especially not about something as big as this!"

_"Ah, but if they didn't ever find out you were lying, they would never be mad about it! And, anyway, it was Marlene who suggested a friendship with Potter in the first place!"_

"Friendship, yeah, but not a relationship! Besides, there's no way I'm ever kissing Potter again. It was –"

_"Good. It was good, and you enjoyed it. But if it really bothers you that much, you could always say that there's no need for snogging in a fake relationship."_

"Potter would never accept that! He's too…" Lily trailed off, fully aware that Potter had changed for the better and would probably understand. "Gah! There's really no need for this, anyway!"

_"Is that the best argument you can think of? Of course there's a need for it! If Snape thinks you're dating Potter, there's no way he'll speak to you again! And if he does, Potter will be there to back you up."_

"I don't need Potter's help," Lily said defensively.

_"That's true, but –"_

"No buts! I'm not dating Potter, and that's final!"

_"It would be fake, Lily. How bad can it be?"_

Lily whacked herself with a pillow. "Shut up, me!"

_"You're agreeing," _the voice in her head said smugly.

Lily groaned. "I am not."

_"But you will. You're clever, you can see it'd only benefit you!"_

"No it wouldn't! What if…what if Potter got ideas about me again? I don't want that at all."

_"He only wants to fake it with you to make Rosamond jealous. He's over you."_

"But what if I don't want him to get back together with Rosamond?"

_"Are you jealous, Lily?"_

"Of course not. Don't be ridiculous. I just didn't like her, is all."

_"Well, then all the more reason to fake it with Potter! If she thinks you're dating him, there's no way she can get back with him!"_

"I still don't want to do it."

_"Stop lying to yourself. You're convinced."_

Lily groaned. "I'm going insane."

_"All you need to do is say it."_

"FINE! Fine, I'll fake-date Potter."

The voice in her head was mercifully silent, and for some reason Lily found herself picturing Remus's slightly smug smile.

"I'll tell him tomorrow," she muttered, crawling into bed.

* * *

Lily avoided Potter throughout breakfast and classes, not quite ready yet to share her decision. It didn't help that Black kept smirking at her.

Finally, when she knew Potter would be practicing Quidditch, she drew on every bit of Gryffindor courage and decided to tell him.

Lily walked quickly towards the Quidditch pitch, hiding her nerves behind the determined mask of her face. She saw Potter swoop through the air on his Nimbus 1800 and had to give it to him. Personal opinions aside, she had to admit that he _was _an excellent flyer.

"Hey, Potter!" she shouted, relieved when he immediately dove down and landed with an impressive _whoosh. _

"What?" he asked, folding his arms.

"Let's do this," Lily said, giving him a small smile. Potter grinned back, then kissed her full on the mouth.

When they separated, Lily turned stiffly away from him, wishing for the hundredth time that she didn't blush so easily. "I'll be going then," she said, her voice little more than a squeak.

Potter nodded. "See you, Evans."

"Carry on!" Lily ordered, hiding her embarrassment as best she could.

Potter saluted. "As you wish."

Hopping back onto his broom, Potter leapt into the air and started barking orders at his surprised (but definitely amused) team.

* * *

"First things first, we need to set up a contract so we're on the same page about the rules," Lily said, looking squarely across at Potter.

He sipped noisily at his drink, then lifted an eyebrow at her as he set it back on the table. "There are rules? You sure know how to zap the fun out of a situation."

"Well, it's important to know where we stand on certain things," Lily defended, reaching for a quill and parchment in her bag.

"Okay, like what?" Potter asked, putting his feet on the table. Lily slapped them down again and continued calmly.

"Well, for example, I don't want you to kiss me again."

"Are you crazy? No-one's going to believe we're in a relationship if I'm not allowed to kiss you."

"Well, you might be an old hand at this dating stuff, but I've never had a boyfriend before."

"You have the references of an eighty-year-old," Potter accused with a resigned shake of his head. "Why does that even matter?"

"It matters because I don't want all my firsts to be fake," Lily said frankly. "If I'm going to be snogging someone, I want to do it for real."

"Okay, but you kissed me first."

She shook her head firmly. "This is non-negotiable."

"Ugh, _fine," _Potter sighed. "But we need to figure something out. People are going to get very suspicious if I'm not even allowed to touch you."

"You have a point. How about this: you can hold my hand and walk me to breakfast."

Lily ignored Potter's eye roll and went on. "Aaand, we can never tell anyone that this relationship is fake."

"Duh," Potter agreed.

"Okay, so I've got _no snogging _and _no snitching. _Anything else?"

Potter frowned, seemingly considering something. Then he nodded, eyes lighting up mischievously. "I could…write you notes. Every day."

"You'd do that?" Lily asked softly.

Potter nodded. "Sure." After a pause, he added, "Rosamond was always on my case to write her notes, but I never did. If I do it for you, she'll go ballistic."

"How romantic," Lily said drily.

"Oh, and you have to come to my Quidditch games, and attend the parties afterwards with me."

"Then you have to teach me to fly like you do." She hadn't meant to say it, but somehow the confession had slipped out.

"You can't fly?" Potter asked, stunned.

"Well…I'm Muggle-born –"

"That shouldn't influence anything."

"– and we only had very basic lessons in first year. I never practiced, and now I can't fly properly. It always looked so…fun, but I was scared, I guess. I regret it now."

"You can fly _with _me if you'd like, Evans," Potter offered, his tone and words so kind that she couldn't help but be touched.

"I'd like that. But, Potter, if anyone in school ever hears about it –especially the bit where I confessed to being afraid – I'll know exactly who told them. And trust me, you do _not _want to see what I'll do then."

"We've been over this, Evans. No snitching. Besides, I'd never betray a friend. Or a fake girlfriend, whatever the case may be."

"I appreciate that, Potter. I really do."

"You're making me blush, Evans."

She grinned at him. "Something else just occurred to me, too. I call you Potter, and you call me Evans_. _That won't work if we're supposed to be in a relationship. So, _James, _what do you say?"

"I say, _Lily, _that I agree."

"Good," Lily said, adding the last couple of conditions to the contract. Potter pulled it from her hands and studied it critically.

"Aha! Last thing. You're coming with me on the snowflying trip."

The Hogwarts seventh-year snowflying trip to Glenshee was _notorious_. It was said that more students lost their virginities there than in the rest of the whole school year. Lily had never in her wildest dreams imagined actually going, despite Marlene's attempts to persuade her.

"Um…." Lily said hesitantly. "That's months away. How do you even know we'll still be doing this when that time comes?"

"Let's call it a contingency. Look, no-one in their right mind is going to let their boyfriend go on that trip without them. So, if we are still doing this by the time it comes around, you have to go with me."

Lily was almost certain that by the time that snowflying trip came around, she and Potter would be ancient history. That was the only reason she said "Okay. Deal."

Lily yanked the contract out of Potter's hands and signed it neatly with her quill. Then she passed it to him.

CONTRACT \- Oct. 15

1\. **NO** snogging or kissing of any kind (holding hands is OK)

2\. **NO **snitching.

3\. James must write Lily a note every day.

4\. Lily must go to parties with James.

5\. James must fly with Lily every day.

6\. Lily must go to all James's Quidditch matches.

7\. James and Lily will go on the seventh-years' annual snowflying trip to Glenshee together.

Signed:

_Lily Evans _**_James Potter_**

When they had both signed, Lily held out her hand for Potter – _James, _she reminded herself, _James_ – to shake. Smiling a little, he clasped it firmly, and they shook.

* * *

**A/N: I think this was the first proper _To All The Boys-_plotline chapter, and I'd love to hear what you guys think about it! **


	5. Chapter 5 - Of Parties and Parallels

**A/N: first of all, a big thank-you to James Birdsong and Junnistaken, who took the time to review this story. It means a lot, guys, thanks so much. Junnistaken, thanks especially for yours – you made an excellent point; I've tried to make this chapter a bit more in-character for Lily. I hope you like it!**

**Second, I'm apologising to all of you who don't like long chapters. I got a bit carried away writing this one, and I couldn't find a convenient place to break it up... So, 3800 words, here we go!**

* * *

The next morning, Lily lingered in her bedroom for as long as possible. Finally, Potter lost patience, and burst through the door.

"What if I'd been dressing?" Lily complained without turning around.

"Then I guess I'd be in the hospital wing suffering from several different hexes," Potter – James – replied amiably. "But come _on, _Lily, we've got to go down to breakfast."

"Fine," Lily grumbled, marching down the stairs. Potter caught her halfway, grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to a grudging stop.

"What now?" she sighed, folding her arms.

"You've forgotten something very important," Potter – James! – chided, wagging his finger reproachingly.

"And what might that be?" Lily enquired, failing entirely to keep the impatience out of her voice.

"We're dating, of course!" he said, as though it was obvious.

"If you try to kiss me…" Lily began, but Potter – _James! Must call him James!– _waved her off.

"Hospital wing, I know. But you promised we could hold hands, at least. I hope you haven't forgotten?"

"Of course not! I just didn't realise you wanted to hold my hand _all the way _from our dorm."

"Evans, Evans –"

"You should call me Lily," Lily interrupted.

"– there will be _people _in the corridors – "

"Obviously," Lily snapped.

" – and we need _everyone _to think we're dating."

"Unfortunately, you're right," Lily grudgingly agreed.

"It's not _that _bad! Many girls in this school would _kill _to be in your position."

"Your modesty knows no bounds," Lily said sardonically.

"I know! It's my best quality," he said, with such smug pride in his voice that Lily couldn't help but laugh.

"All right, all right. You're not that bad."

"I've broken through the icy exterior!" Potter – ugh_, James_ – cheered. "I knew it would only be a matter of time!"

"Just take my hand," Lily sighed.

"Gladly," he said, bowing melodramatically. With surprising gentleness, he clasped her hand in his.

Lily smiled. "Now let's get down to breakfast. I'm starving!"

"Says the one who took half an hour to get dressed," James teased. She shoved him with her shoulder, and he shoved back.

"Come on, Evans – uh, Lily, I mean," James called, pulling her towards the door. She was secretly gratified that he also had trouble with the first-name thing.

Lily swung their joined hands as they walked towards the Great Hall. "It's working," she murmured in James's ear as they passed through the door. Everywhere she looked, she saw students pointing and whispering.

James spun her around to face him, pulling something out of his back pocket as he did so. "This is for you," he said, bending so that their faces were suspiciously close.

Lily saw Rosamond Fairbourne choke into her orange juice. Smiling, she accepted the note, which was decorated with little hearts.

"Good job," Potter congratulated, his eyes fixed on Rosamond. "I'll see you," he added, looking back at Lily. She nodded, her smile widening.

They walked towards their respective friends, who wore nearly identical expressions of shock.

"The Potter thing is insane!" Mary exclaimed as soon as Lily had taken her seat. "I mean, I always knew he fancied _you, _but I never would have guessed that you liked him back!"

"I didn't last year," Lily admitted. "But he's become so much nicer since we became Heads. I guess it just…happened."

"When was your first kiss?" Marlene asked eagerly.

"Er, two days ago," Lily said awkwardly.

"Details," her friends said in unison.

"Well, I was talking to Snape, and he was insulting James. I defended him and then walked off. James had been listening in, and I was furious, but he explained himself really well. He'd been looking for me to talk about patrol schedules, see, and he'd happened to overhear. Then he was so sweet about being grateful and all that.

"Then he was flirting, and I shot him down because I thought he still had a girlfriend. But then he told me he'd broken up with Rosamond, and he flirted some more. I took his glasses, and he chased me across the grounds. He…er, knocked me down, and he was suddenly…so close."

Mary and Marlene nodded along, looking enraptured.

"That's about all there is to it, really. You probably guessed it, but we kissed. Then I got embarrassed and ran off, but he tracked me down to the kitchens."

"I remember!" Mary squealed. "He asked us where he could find you. I've never seen him look more confused, but also happy."

Lily cleared her throat. "Anyway, he found me in the kitchens, and asked me to date him. I said I was confused about everything, and that I'd tell him the next day. After a lengthy conversation with myself, I decided to do it. And here we are."

_Strange how I didn't tell a single lie in that whole conversation, _Lily mused.

"So that's why I heard rumours of Lily Evans and James Potter snogging on the Quidditch pitch?" Marlene asked.

Lily nodded, blushing.

Marlene and Mary tackled Lily in an enthusiastic group hug. "It's great that you two finally got together," Marlene said, misty-eyed. "I've had a running bet with Black on how long it'd take."

"On the subject of Black," Lily began, but Marlene cut her off with a gleeful "You two always had an undeniable chemistry."

"We did not!" Lily exclaimed. "I hated him!"

"Love and loathing are easily mistaken for the other," Mary said sagely.

"That doesn't even make any sense," Lily grumbled. "But what _does _make sense is the looks Marlene's been giving Black."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Marlene sniffed. "There's absolutely nothing going on between me and Black."

"Ah, but you wish there was," Mary teased.

"Shut up," Marlene hissed as Sirius Black himself strolled over.

"So, Evans, you finally got your act together and decided to give old Prongs a chance?" he asked, slipping into a seat next to her.

"Well, I _did _just hold his hand all the way down to breakfast," she said, particularly slowly and clearly.

"Don't be like that, darling, I'm just trying to gather the facts here. What made you change your mind?"

Lily noticed Mary and Marlene also listening intently. "That's really none of your business, Black."

"Oh, but it is. Prongs is like my brother."

"He changed. For the better," she said tartly.

"That's it?" Black asked, prodding Lily with a fork.

"You do that again and I'll hex you," she said calmly.

"You're Head Girl, remember?"

"Accidents happen, Black."

"Shove off, Black. Can't you see Lily's not going to tell you?" Marlene asked, glaring at him.

Black smirked at her. "I might be persuaded to leave…for a price." He tapped his lips with one finger and gave her a heated look.

"You're disgusting," Marlene protested, but her face was flaming red.

"Get lost," Mary scolded, shooing Black away.

Lily prodded her. "Why did you do that? Marlene was just getting nice and flustered."

"I was not!" Marlene began, then trailed off uselessly as she saw her reflection in her glass. "Stop laughing, you two!"

* * *

Halfway through her Transfiguration homework, someone knocked on Lily's door. Frowning a little, she rose to open it.

"Surely you're not going like _that?"_ James asked as soon as he saw her.

"What are you talking about? And what are you doing here?"

"What, didn't you read my note? I'm taking you to Lyall Brown's birthday bash."

Lily snorted. "I'm not going there."

"Oh yes you are. One, Rosamond is going to be there. And two, parties are in the contract."

"Sorry, James, I can't," Lily said matter-of-factly.

"You can't what?" Marlene asked, peering around the door. "Whoa, is that James Potter? What _have _you two been doing?"

"Nothing!" Lily and James said simultaneously. "I'm just here to take Lily to Lyall Brown's party."

"Yes!" Marlene squealed delightedly, flinging her arms around Potter's neck.

"NO!" Lily shouted at the same time.

Both James and Marlene stared at her. "I can't go. I'm Head Girl," she said defensively.

"Oh come _on, _Lil! Loosen up a bit, would you? You won't die if you break _one _school rule," Marlene said impatiently. "Come and have some fun for once!"

Lily shook her head violently, but Marlene had grabbed her by the arm and was dragging her towards the cupboards.

"Get dressed, get changed, and be quick about it! Out, you," she added as an afterthought, jerking her head at Potter. He raised his hands and left.

Barely fifteen minutes later, Lily was dragging her feet as James hauled her towards the Gryffindor common room. It was quite a walk from the Heads' quarters, and Lily had complained the entire way.

"No, James, no! I don't _do _parties…" she began for the umpteenth time, but James cut her off. "Nope, we're going. Sparrowfeathers!" to the Fat Lady.

They walked through the portrait hole together, Lily reluctantly and James enthusiastically. Lily stopped, finger-combing her hair, and began to gather it up into a ponytail.

"What are you doing?" James asked, reaching for the scrunchie she was using. "Give me this."

"What? No! No, give me that back."

"I'm keeping it," he said, looping the hair-tie around his wrist. "I like your hair down. You look pretty."

"Fine. But you can't lose it, okay? That's my favourite scrunchie." Lily actually had to hide a smile at the compliment - what was _happening _to her? Surely she wasn't –

"Deal," he interrupted her thoughts, giving her his famous crooked smile. "Now, come on!"

Grabbing her by the hand, James pulled her into the party proper. All the warm, fuzzy feelings from his compliment faded in an instant as he dragged her onwards. "No, no, no, just…" she started, but he ignored her and walked on.

He seemed to know everybody at the party. Lily hung back as James enthusiastically greeted all the members of his Quidditch team and a horde of admiring girls.

"Hey, Lily?" called Esmerelda Small, a girl she knew to be Rosamond Fairbourne's best friend. "Come sit with us."

"Sit with them," Sirius encouraged, giving her a supportive smile.

"So!" said Esmerelda with a wide, fake smile. "What's up with you and Potter? I thought you hated each other!"

"Oh no, don't push her. She's _shy," _Rosamond said nastily from the side. She and Esmerelda both chuckled patronisingly.

"What do you want to know?" Lily asked, keeping her voice carefully neutral. _You cannot hex fellow students because you are Head Girl. Remember that. _

Esmerelda sat forward eagerly, simpering in a way that Lily found truly revolting. "Everything! When…how…how far? H on B? H on…C? H on P? H up and down on P? T on C?"

Lily blinked. "Sorry, what are we talking about again?"

"You know what, forget it," Rosamond said with an irritatingly superior smile. "They clearly haven't done anything."

"And how would _you _know that?" Lily asked, riled. _Head Girl! No hexing, _she reminded herself, gripping her own hand to prevent it from reaching for her wand.

Rosamond flipped her blonde hair back and smirked nastily. "Because I know James…and I know Lily Evans."

Sneering down at Lily, she stood and stretched luxuriously. Lily saw several guys eyeing her legs where her dress rose. "I'm going to go get a refill. Um…can I get you anything? A juice box, maybe, or a chocolate milk?" Beside her, Esmerelda sniggered quietly.

Lily smiled sweetly at her. "Oh no, thanks. James is going to get me a drink. But thank you so much for offering." Her smile broadened at the annoyed look on Rosamond's face.

"What's up, babe?" James asked, dropping into a seat next to her.

"Hi," Lily said, beaming at him. Rosamond scowled and left.

She took a deep swig out of the goblet he handed her and gagged. "Are you sure this is Butterbeer?" she spluttered.

"Oh, sorry, that's my Firewhisky," he said. Lily glared at him. Completely ignoring her, of course, James pulled a wizard's camera from under his robes. "Photo?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Really?"

"Really," James agreed. "We have to keep up appearances. And besides, Rosamond's watching."

Lily leaned over and kissed him on the cheek as the shutter snapped. James gave her an odd look, then shrugged and looked at the photo. "Excellent," he said, and waved his wand over the camera. A neat copy fell into Lily's lap.

"Not bad," she admitted grudgingly, admiring his spellwork rather against her will. There was no denying it – James Potter was a top-notch wizard.

Some time later, Lily was making her way back to the portrait hole, hoping to avoid James and the inevitable outburst of _but the party's not over yet! Come back_.

"Hey!" Remus called from behind her. "Boo," he teased as she spun around, startled.

"Hey," Lily smiled. "I didn't know you…came."

"Well, here I am," Remus said with a chuckle, which she shared. "So you're with Prongs now? Guess my speech at Sarah Selwyn's worked."

"Yeah….well, what can I say?" she said with a grin. "He's not such a bad guy after all."

She was surprised, and a little discomfited, to find that she wasn't lying.

* * *

"Whoa….hey, occupied," James called out as someone opened the door to the boys' bathrooms. Rosamond Fairbourne walked in, looking stunning as usual in a black dress and heels.

"Lily Evans. Really." She stood close to him; too close for his liking.

"What do you care?" he snapped, drying his hands. She sniffed, her eyes following his motions, landing on Lily's scrunchie tied around his wrist.

"Aww, this is so cute! Is this hers?" Rosamond asked, tugging the hair-tie off his arm and twirling it in her fingers. She reached up to tie her hair into a ponytail, then smiled at him. "How do I look?"

"You look good, Rosamond. You always look good," James said honestly, but with a hint of bitterness in his tone. "Come on, give it back."

Rosamond smiled coyly. "No, I think I'm going to keep it for a while. Kay?" Leaning even closer, she whispered, "Don't worry. I won't tell."

She turned on her heel and walked out, leaving James confused and more than a little worried.

* * *

Lily was still chatting to Remus when Potter reappeared. "Hey, you want to get out of here and go grab some food?" he asked, jerking a thumb towards the door.

Lily turned to glance at Remus, feeling slightly guilty about ditching their conversation. "Oh, no, go ahead," he said, catching her look.

"Thanks," she said, flashing him a grateful smile.

"See you later," he called after her.

"Bye!" she replied with a wave, following James out of the room.

They made their way to the kitchens in companionable silence, stopping every now and then to check for Filch or Mrs Norris. Lily hated to admit it, but there were definitely times when Potter's prankster history came in handy.

"You did so good tonight! Rosamond was pissed," James said enthusiastically once they were safely in the kitchens.

"Yeah, well, I just hope she doesn't turn my books into cockroaches in class on Monday," Lily joked.

James laughed. "You're _way _better at transfiguration than she is. You could just turn them back."

"Well, true," Lily agreed, matching his grin.

"I love how you're not afraid of her," he complimented.

"No, no, I'm terrified of her. I've never been one of the popular clique, and the rumours they could spread about me-"

"But you don't let her steamroll over you," he talked over her. "Like that day at breakfast when she was being a complete bitch about your shoes."

"You remember that?" Lily asked, stifling a snort. That particular conversation had not gone well for Rosamond.

"Yeah, 'course. I mean, I couldn't _say _anything 'cause we were… together, and everything, but you didn't look like you needed my help." His grin turned mischievous. "And I've always thought you looked kinda hot when you were mad."

Lily blushed and looked down.

"Hey, Rosamond is gorgeous, but you have _way _better style," he said seriously.

"Thank you," she said awkwardly, still not meeting his eyes. What _was _it about James that made her so… so clumsy? She prided herself on her intelligence, after all.

"Can I get you anything else?" a little house-elf squeaked, interrupting Lily's musings. She smiled at it. "No, thank you, we're done."

Looking distinctly disappointed, the little creature scampered off.

James reached into the pocket of his robes, scowling as he read a few lines of writing from a piece of parchment. "She makes me so angry sometimes," he grumbled, trying to tuck the parchment back into his robes.

"I mean, while we're at the party she barely talks to me, but when I check this I've got nearly a thousand messages from her."

Lily snatched the parchment from his hands, scanning it with a frown. "Is this a Protean Charm, Potter?"

He gave her a surprised look. "Uh, yeah. That's how Rosamond and I used to talk to each other when we had different classes."

Lily dropped the parchment, feeling inexplicably angry all of a sudden. "You're still talking, then?"

"Well, not as much as we used to, but yeah, sometimes." He smiled up at her, looking so genuinely confused by her anger that she couldn't keep it up any longer.

Some of it must have slipped through into her expression, because he folded his arms. "What?"

"Hmm?" she asked, turning away from him.

"You have this… this judgy face you make."

"Well, I'm sorry if I think it's a little strange that you're still talking to your ex-girlfriend via specially enchanted parchments." Spinning around to face him again, she said fiercely, "It's not _healthy, _James."

He scowled at her. "Oh, and you're the expert now? You've never even had a boyfriend."

"Well, you've only had _one _girlfriend –" she held up a finger to emphasize her point – "and you're completely obsessed with her, so that doesn't necessarily make _you _the expert."

Some of the bitterness she felt seeped into her tone, but fortunately James didn't notice. He was too busy giving her an indignant glare.

"One, I am _not _obsessed with Ros –"

Lily leaned forward, making eye contact and nodding sincerely. "Okay. So you're _not_ obsessed with her." Her tone turned threatening as she asked, "Why is it that you're still talking to her, then?"

"You know, for someone who is as against dating as you are, you sure have a lot of opinions about it," he accused.

She sat back, stung. "Well, I think it's just important that we're honest with each other."

"Okay, fine then. Be honest with me. Why haven't you ever had a boyfriend?"

Lily sighed. _Of course _he would find a way to turn her words against her – he had always been good at doing that.

"I don't know," she lied. "I guess no-one's ever liked me like that."

"Lies," James interrupted. "You know perfectly well that I fancied you for ages. And I'm not the only one! Robert Davies asked you to Hogsmeade last Easter, and you said no."

"Oh, are you keeping tabs on me?"

He snapped his fingers in front of her face. She scowled at him. "Evans, you've got to talk to me. No sidestepping. What happened to no secrets?"

She took a deep breath, mentally cursing James Potter and his stupid attractive crooked smile. "Okay. So, um, love and dating? I love to read about it, and it's fun to think about in my head…"

He nodded along, not even making the _so you think about me like that, then? _quip she had expected him to.

"But when it's real…"

She stuttered, suddenly unable to find the words.

"It's… scary?" James offered, giving her a searching look.

She nodded, then dropped her eyes, feeling acutely embarrassed. She had just spilled her deepest secret, for Merlin's sake!

"Why? Why is that scary?" he asked gently.

"Because the more people you let into your heart, the more people can just… walk right out," she whispered, hardly able to get the words out over the huge lump in her throat.

James ran a hand through his hair, his expression both compassionate and exasperated at the same time. "We've been through this, Lily. I'm not going to hurt you like Snape did, I _promise."_

"Thank you," she said softly, looking into his eyes and giving him her most sincere smile. "That… that means a lot to me."

"We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," he offered.

"Let's not," she agreed.

They sat in silence for a few moments, both unable to put a name to the _something _that was now pulsing between them.

Then James cleared his throat. "I've just thought of something," he said, raising an eyebrow at her. "You say that you're scared of commitments and relationships, but you don't seem to be afraid to be with me."

He put his elbows on the table, leaning forward to make eye contact. "Why is that?"

Lily tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, feeling suddenly defensive. "Well, because we're just pretending."

James sat back as though she had shocked him. He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes, and there was something distinctly bitter about the way he phrased his next sentence.

"Right, well. Of course. Ladies and gentlemen, Lily Evans, you can count on her for honesty… Always."

He stood up, flashing her that strange smile again.

"Wait, James!" she called as he began to walk out of the kitchens. He made a noncommittal grunting sound.

"Are we… are we cool?" she asked nervously.

"Yeah!" he said, but his voice was strained, uncomfortable. Distinctly _not _the easy, playful James Potter she had come to like so much these last few weeks. "Yeah, of course."

He was half-way through the door when he turned back to say, as though he had just remembered, "Oh, and thank you."

At her puzzled look, he jerked a thumb in the direction of the Gryffindor common room. "For the party."

With another one of those twisted, not-James smiles, he left the kitchens. Lily watched him go, unable to quell the feeling that she had lost something infinitely precious.

* * *

**A/N: and that (finally) finishes chapter 5. Please let me know what you guys thought! Oh, and I'd also like to hear if you all prefer longer chapters, like this one, or shorter ones.**

**In case anyone was wondering, the "parallels" in this chapter's title is used as a synonym to "relationships." Just thought I should clear that up. **

**Thanks, as always, for reading! **


	6. Chapter 6 - Of Nastiness and Niceties

**A/N: sorry for the long wait, guys – I got a new challenge called _Snaked Out Of Reason _from authorpath and found myself juggling that and (another) psychology paper. Thank you so much to everybody who read and followed this in my absence – it means a lot, guys, really! Here's chapter 6 – I hope you like it.**

* * *

Lily closed the door of her room behind her and leaned against it, closing her eyes. A scrap of parchment fluttered past her leg, and she snatched it up with a frown.

The photo of herself with James at the party stared back up at her. They were grinning hugely, and as she watched, photo-Lily placed a kiss on photo-James's cheek. He responded by smiling even wider and pulling her closer against him.

She bit her lip, surprised to find her eyes were burning with unshed tears. Had she really just gone and lost all that?

_This is ridiculous, _she thought. Reaching for her wand, she muttered the incantation for the Protean Charm over the photograph.

_James, you're such a dork sometimes, _she wrote before she could lose her nerve.

He replied almost immediately, much to her surprise and (dare she say it) delight. _You know you love me._

Lily smiled almost as widely as the photo-version of herself. If James was back to teasing her, that meant he really was himself again.

* * *

As the weeks passed, fake-dating James became easier and easier. Lily always sat with him and the Marauders for meals, and _her _friends were joining them too.

Lily was delighted to note that Marlene and Sirius always sat together, talking nineteen-to-the-dozen about this, that and the other.

Just that morning, Sirius surprised her by figuring out a new nickname for her.

"Listen, Lily," he said, turning away from Marlene for the first time that day. "We've all got nicknames – you should have one too."

"Hey, that's a good idea!" Peter piped up.

"No, it's not!" she protested. "I don't want to be called Fluffy or something equally ridiculous!"

"Our nicknames are not ridiculous," Sirius complained.

"Er, when last did you actually listen to them? Prongs? _Moony?"_

"There's a story behind those," James said easily, helping himself to some more toast.

"Oh?"

But he just grinned at her and continued eating.

Resolving to grill him later, Lily turned back to Sirius. "Okay, fine, then. Your nicknames are not _entirely _ridiculous. But that doesn't mean I want one."

"Well, you're getting one," Marlene interjected.

"Traitor!" Lily cried. "You're supposed to be on _my _side!"

"No, Marls is my nickname assistant," Sirius said, slinging an arm around Marlene's waist and pulling her close. Marlene blushed, but didn't move away.

Lily hid a grin and asked blandly, "So what horrific title have you come up with, then? If it's Flower, I'm going to kill you."

"Why would it be Flower? You're too feisty to be a flower," Sirius argued.

"I'm not sure whether that's a compliment or an insult," she said drily.

Sirius ignored her. "From now on, you're going to be known as Li'l! As in, _little _with an apostrophe in the middle."

"That is a _terrible _pun!" Lily groaned.

Sirius looked proud of himself. "I think it's genius."

"Terrible," Lily deadpanned.

_"I _think it's perfect, Li'l!" James said, scooping her up and swinging her around playfully.

"No, no, no!" Lily protested, but she was smiling hugely. "Put me down, Potter!"

"Or what?" he asked cheekily.

"I'll tell McGonagall it was you who put the Whoopee cushion on her chair."

"But it was you!"

"Only on a dare from _you!" _she said, blushing scarlet.

"You enjoyed it," he said, beginning to tickle her sides. "Come on, Evans, admit it."

"You have no proof," she said, swatting away his hands and failing miserably to hide her laughter.

She stopped laughing immediately when she caught Snape's gaze. His dark eyes showed shock and disgust, but most prominently, _hurt._

"Is something wrong, Lily?" James asked, noticing her silence and setting her gently back down.

She shook her head and forced herself to look away from Snape. Unfortunately, James noticed, and glared angrily at Snape.

All the hurt was gone from his gaze, leaving only anger and hatred as he glared right back at James.

It was at moments like these that Lily wished she could disappear.

* * *

That afternoon, as Lily was doing her Charms homework, somebody knocked on her door. Frowning, she got up to answer it, and came face-to-face with Severus Snape.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked tersely.

Lily considered refusing, but remembered the pain in his gaze that morning and relented. Nodding curtly, she stepped out into the corridor.

"I can't believe you're dating Potter!" he burst out as soon as the door was closed.

Lily folded her arms. "Why? Is it so unbelievable that someone could like me?"

That had been a low blow, and she knew it, but it had the desired effect. Snape's sallow face turned bright red.

"No! No, of course not! What's unbelievable is…" he hesitated, then turned and glared at the wall behind him. "You're this sweet, innocent girl, and he's… he's a complete prat! I don't get it."

"I'm not that innocent," Lily snapped, stung. "And careful how you talk about _my boyfriend."_

"So that's how it is," Snape sneered.

"That's how it is," Lily echoed coldly. Turning, she reached for the doorknob and began to open it. "Well, if that was the reason you came to talk to me –"

"No! Wait, Lily, please! That's not – you see, I – you – that is to say, I –"

_"What?" _she snarled.

"Did you ever like me?" he blurted.

Lily stared at him, completely and utterly taken aback. "I… I'm not sure. A long time ago, maybe," she confessed. The words were out before she could stop them, and she wanted to slap herself.

Snape's face had changed entirely – he looked radiant, glowing. Reaching towards her, he made to kiss her on the lips.

Lily jerked back. "Severus!"

"What?" he whispered, looking at her with hungry eyes.

"I… I'm with James, remember?"

"Ditch him," he said fiercely. "Ditch him, and be _my _girlfriend."

"Are you crazy?"

"No! I mean it, Lily. Ditch Potter – he's a git, anyway."

"So are you! You might have forgotten that day by the lake, but I haven't!"

"It doesn't _matter, _Lily!"

"It does to me!"

"I don't believe that stuff anymore!"

"Don't lie to me, Severus Snape."

"It's true, Lily, I promise you it's true! If you'll be my girlfriend, I'll ditch Avery and Mulciber and all the rest and –"

"I already have a boyfriend, Severus!"

The rejection hit Snape like a slap. He staggered back, looking pained. "Fine," he said raggedly. "Fine. But can't we at least be friends?"

_"No, _Severus," she said firmly. "I've said this before, and I'll say it one last time – we are _over." _

"You can't just ignore me!" he cried, desperately grabbing her arm.

She slapped his hand away. "I've had enough of your grovelling. It's pathetic, do you hear me? _Pathetic." _

Snape's face turned blank, an expression she knew and recognised – he was hurt and angry, and trying to hide it.

She told herself not to feel guilty. His obsession with her was not healthy for either of them. "Leave me alone, Snape," she said. "I mean it."

Then she slammed the door in his face.

* * *

Despite her best reasoning, Lily felt awful. Her bad mood spread around her like an infectious disease, and even her best friends were staying well out of her way.

Or so she thought. One moment she was peacefully scowling at her ceiling, the next she was being tackled bodily and rolled off her bed.

"What the… James!" She scowled up at him, ignoring the little flutter in her chest as he gave her a playful grin.

"You look ridiculous," he informed her, hazel eyes sparkling behind his glasses.

Lily threw her pillow at him. "Your fault."

"Hey, I just tackled you. You went and fell off by yourself."

"Where's that famous Gryffindor chivalry, then?" she grumbled, heaving herself to her feet. "Not even helping me up…"

"You would have slapped me if I offered," he teased. Lily knew it was probably true, but there was no way that she would give him that satisfaction.

"Why are you here?" she asked instead.

He gave her a disarming grin. "Well, a little birdie called Mary may have twittered something about my dear girlfriend being in distress, so being the chivalrous knight I am, I came to see what I could do for her."

"I'm going to kill Mary," she grumbled. "Can't I sulk in peace?"

"Not with me as a fake boyfriend," he answered cheekily. "Sulking is not allowed within the Marauders."

Lily felt a smile twitch at the corner of her mouth, but quelled it resolutely. "Good thing I'm not a Marauder, then."

"The Whoopee cushion in McGonagall's office says otherwise," he said slyly.

Lily blushed. "Why do you _always _have to bring that up?"

"Because it's hilarious! And besides, you look totally adorable when you're all flustered."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," she grumbled.

"Then why are you smiling like that?" he asked in a sing-song voice.

"I am not!"

"Oh yes you are." Reaching forward, he brushed a finger across her jaw, stopping just below her lips.

Lily's breath hitched. She met James's eyes, and he smiled slightly at her, leaning down as if he might –

"Ah, so my cheering-up method worked!" Mary's triumphant voice called from the doorway. "Not quite what I had in mind, I must say, but effective nonetheless –"

Laughing, she dodged the pillow that a scarlet-faced Lily threw at her. "You were about to snog, admit it!"

"We were not!" Lily said, hiding her face in her hands. Her cheeks were burning. "We were just fooling around."

Mary's grin broadened. "Oh, and that's not suspicious at all."

"Shut up, you," James said good-naturedly.

"Shall I leave you to your snogging, then?" Mary asked cheekily.

"Youaretheworstfriendintheworld," Lily babbled, shoving her friend out of the door. James was shaking with laughter behind her.

"And you, too!" she said, folding her arms. "Out!"

He pretended to look disappointed. "We didn't even get to snog!"

Lily's face flamed again, and he burst out laughing. "Kidding, Evans. I know the rules."

Grabbing her hand, he pulled her downstairs. "Come on. Mary's going to tell the whole world we're snogging if we don't join them in the common room now."

Lily let herself be pulled along, marvelling silently at how seamlessly he fitted into her life.

_I hope nobody's too attached, _she thought, suddenly incredibly guilty about their planned break-up.

But she knew it was far too late for that.

* * *

**This chapter was a bit shorter again - sorry to those of you who like longer chapters. Still, it's full of fluff, which I think makes up for that.**

**Please do leave me a review and tell me what you thought! I adore hearing from you guys. **


	7. Chapter 7 - Of Families and Festivities

**A/N: it seems I'm making a bad habit of being late with updates on this story – sorry, sorry, sorry! At least there's a long-weekend are coming up, and I'll have a couple of days where I can write pretty much non-stop. **

**I don't think I've actually put out any disclaimers since chapter one – er, sorry about that too, I guess, and please don't sue me! I still don't own any characters/_To All the Boys_-plotlines you recognize, and much as I might wish otherwise, I'm definitely making no money from this fic. **

**That's everything, then, I think – but in case I've forgotten something, there's always the Author's Note at the end. Enjoy chapter seven!**

* * *

Christmas at Hogwarts was always breath-taking, no matter if you were staying there for the holidays or going home. Lily herself was going to visit her family (and James's!) but that didn't stop her from enjoying the festive spirit.

"Happy holidays!" she sang cheerfully to Marlene and Mary the morning they were due to leave.

"Someone's chirpy," Marlene commented. "Excited about meeting the Potters?"

_"No," _Lily said forcefully.

Marlene smirked. "Why on earth not?"

"It's not that I'm not happy to be meeting them, it's just –"

"Ohhh, I see. It's _James _who's got you so ridiculously happy."

"What? No! Why would it be James?"

"Why wouldn't it?" Mary asked innocently. Lily glared at her.

Marlene's smirk was wider than ever. "What exactly _were_ you two doing last night? Because you really _are _inordinately happy this morning."

Lily groaned and buried her flaming face in her hands. "We were doing our patrols! Nothing more! Honestly, Marls, you're as bad as Black sometimes."

Marlene blushed bright red at this.

"Ooh, what a lovely post-snog flush," Lily cooed, taking her opportunity to tease her friend right back.

"I'm not – we didn't – why would you even think – oh, shut up!" Marlene spluttered.

Mary giggled. "That really _is _very suspicious, Marls."

"Nothing is going on between me and Black!" the blonde exclaimed, a lot louder than she had intended, because Sirius Black himself came strolling over.

"What was that, love?" he asked, casually dropping into the seat next to Marlene.

"Er, nothing," she said, face redder than ever.

"Marlene here was just saying how lovely it would be to snog you someday," Lily said with a perfectly straight face.

Sirius smirked. "Did she, now?"

"I did _not!" _Marlene protested, still bright red.

"Hey, I'm not that unappealing," Sirius protested.

"When have I ever called you unappealing?"

"Well, then why don't you want to snog me?"

"I never said I didn't –" Marlene broke off, clapping a hand to her mouth. "Damn you, Black."

"Snog me instead," he said cheekily.

"In your _dreams," _she said, her cheeks red again.

"It has been, actually," Sirius said without a hint of remorse.

Marlene, however, only rolled her eyes. "Still not snogging you, Black."

"We would make an insanely attractive couple," he said light-heartedly, but Lily thought she caught a hint of the genuine behind his careless mask.

Marlene smirked. "Wouldn't we ever."

Lily wanted to bang their heads together. _You like each other, _she felt like screaming. _Why can't you stop being so stubborn and just admit it? _

But she knew the chances were low. Neither Marlene McKinnon nor Sirius Black "did" relationships (their words, not hers.) Sure, they'd snog random people from one week to the next and occasionally even go further, but neither of them had ever actually had a real boyfriend or girlfriend.

_I'm one to talk, _she thought, slightly bitterly. _They've both snogged and almost definitely gone further, but the only relationship I've ever had is fake._

_But at least fake is better than nothing, _a treacherous little voice in the back of her mind whispered. _Besides, it's not as if James's company is that terrible._

And that was just the thing. It wasn't. _James _wasn't.

That was how she knew she would have to break things off sooner rather than later, before she ended up hurting herself and the people she loved.

But the selfish little voice in her mind whispered, _what if you don't break up? _

Lily did not reply.

She didn't have one.

But she really, really wished they could have kept their families out of this.

* * *

"We are so happy to finally meet you, Lily dear!" Mrs Potter gushed, opening the door wide and giving Lily a spontaneous hug. "We've heard so much about you!"

"Mum!" James groaned, blushing bright red.

"It's true, James," she said without a hint of shame, winking conspiratorially at Lily. "And I like the sound of her much, much more than that Rosamond."

"MUM!" James was positively scarlet now. Lily grinned.

As soon as she stepped inside, a small house-elf reached up to take her coat. Lily shot James a startled glance, and he mouthed _"just go with it." _

Still a little unsettled and beginning to feel distinctly out of place, Lily followed his advice and let the small creature take her coat.

_Why are you so flustered? _she chided herself. _You _knew _Potter was rich. _

It was true, and she did know, but somehow it hadn't seemed… real, until that moment. Until she arrived at his _mansion _and had her coat taken by his _house-elf _and been guided through a whole _hall _just to reach the dining room.

James seemed to pick up on her frustration and sent her a small, supportive smile. "I know it's a lot to take in, but we're not going to bite you," he whispered in her ear as they walked into the dining room.

Lily hid a smile of her own at the thought of silvery-haired Mrs Potter biting anyone. It just seemed impossible.

That feeling was reinforced more than ever as they sat through dinner. Mrs Potter was one of the friendliest, kindest people Lily had ever met, and put Lily at her ease in no time. Much to Lily's delight, she even told several hilarious stories about James as a mischievous toddler.

Mr Potter was equally friendly and perhaps even funnier – his stories were a lot more recent and a _lot _more embarrassing.

And with Sirius in the mix, you had the recipe for an absolutely hilarious – and mortifying, relationship-wise – evening.

After they finished eating, Sirius made several sly comments about the two of them "going to check on the dessert," but was quickly shushed by Mrs Potter, who said firmly that _of course _they were free to leave the table and not to listen to Sirius.

"Just don't ruin the kitchen counters!" Sirius called after them. "I still want to be able to enjoy my food!"

Lily hadn't laughed so much since the infamous whoopee cushion incident, and said as much to James once they collapsed, panting, in the gloriously Sirius-free kitchen.

He grinned playfully at her. "Barring the fact that most of the jokes were at my expense, I'm inclined to agree with you."

She smiled right back at him. "You have an amazing family."

He nodded, hazel eyes sparkling with easy affection. "I know."

Lily felt her stomach flutter as he turned those still-sparkling eyes on her, and for a ridiculous moment she wondered what he would do if she kissed him.

Dropping her gaze, she reached for the glass of water one of the house-elves had placed in front of her and took a long sip. What was the _matter _with her? She sounded dangerously like one of those stupid giggly girls who were always trying to get James to snog them.

"So… Sirius," she said, looking up at James with a smile that hopefully disguised her confused feelings. "I didn't know he was living with you."

James's shoulders tensed. "His parents were… horrible, and he couldn't take it anymore. So he came to us."

"What kind of horrible?" Lily asked, curious about this whole new side of Sirius Black.

James gave her a direct, almost challenging look. "If you repeat any of this –"

"Of course I won't," she interrupted, hiding how touched she was by James's protectiveness of his friend.

He gave her a sharp nod. "Fine. But I mean it, Lily. Don't repeat a _word _of this to anyone."

"Do I look like Brianna Jorkins to you?" she demanded.

James allowed himself a small grin. "You're _much _prettier."

She blushed fiercely. Why oh why did he have to be so annoyingly _charming? _Why couldn't he go back to being an arrogant git?

But James was speaking, jerking her away from her thoughts.

"Sirius's mum is one of the most prejudiced, spiteful people you will ever have the displeasure of meeting. She was always trying to, you know, get Sirius into the whole pureblood mania, and locking him up for days without food when he refused. His dad's no better – he actually wrote several anti-Muggleborn articles for the Ministry.

"It all came to a head one day, when Sirius's mum wanted him to get betrothed to Desdemona Avery. I don't know if you know her – she was a year above us in Hogwarts, a Slytherin – and one of the most bigoted arseholes I have ever encountered. She's a Death Eater now, too. Anyway, Sirius's mum thought she was just the kind of girl Sirius needed to save him from the "disgrace" he had gotten himself into by associating with us.

"Well, Sirius refused, and in a fit of rage his mum disowned him. She blasted his name off their family tapestry and told him that if he ever set foot in their house again, she would see him in Azkaban."

Lily gasped and put a hand to her mouth. James nodded grimly.

"He turned up at our house a couple of hours later, bleeding from a nasty hex and with nowhere else to go. Mum and Dad took him in immediately, and he's been with us ever since."

"I'm so sorry," Lily breathed.

"Don't tell that to Sirius," James warned. "He still wants to be seen as the bad boy, devil-may-care one of the group."

"Of course he does," Lily said with a grin. "But don't worry. I won't change a thing in how I treat him."

"That's exactly what he wants," James said with a small smile. She returned it, and rose from her seat, ready to go back to the dining room.

James put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Lily?"

She turned around to face him, heartbeat spiking when she noticed how close they were standing.

"Thanks for understanding," he said softly. "I don't think many people would."

"Anytime, James," she said, and she meant it.

* * *

About a week later, they were having dinner with Lily's family. She tried not to feel too nervous about it as she Apparated them neatly into their front garden.

"It's not quite as grand as your place, but it's home," she said awkwardly, suddenly rather self-conscious. She had been to James's house, and it was nowhere near as modest as her own.

"I think it's great," James said with a reassuring grin.

"Do you really?" Lily asked, smiling and leaning a little closer.

He opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment the door opened and her mother and father stood framed in the light.

James let go of her arm, which he had not yet removed since their Apparition. Lily was annoyed with herself for blushing – his arm on hers was hardly an incriminating action!

But her father was watching James with narrowed eyes nonetheless. "Careful how you treat my daughter, young man," he said.

James smiled easily. "Oh, don't worry, sir, I'd never do anything to hurt Lily." His voice and tone was all sincerity, and Lily couldn't help but feel a little touched.

"Well, that's all right, then," her father said gruffly. "I'm Charles Evans, by the way."

"James Potter," he returned, shaking her father's hand politely.

"You have a good handshake," her father said, with an approving sort of nod.

"Er… thanks," James said, reaching up to ruffle his hair as he always did when he was nervous or unsure of himself.

"Don't mind him, dear," her mother put in. "He's just being overprotective, as usual. I'm Jasmine Evans, Lily's mother."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," James said, at his most charming as he bent to place a kiss on her hand.

Her mother smiled down in definite approval. "I like this one, Lilykins."

"Muuuuuum," she protested, embarrassed at the nickname and her mother's words.

Ignoring her completely, her mother invited James inside, leaving Lily and her father to roll their eyes at each other on the doorstep.

Still playing Prince Charming, James offered to take Lily's coat and hung it up for her with almost exaggerated chivalry.

"Stop flirting with my mother," she hissed in his ear.

He just winked at her and added his own coat to the rack.

Lily simultaneously wanted to slap him and kiss him – wait, _what?_ What had gotten into her lately? She couldn't stop thinking about James – more specifically, about snogging James.

_It's just curiosity, _she told herself. _For some reason, I just want to see for myself if all the stories about how good a snog he is are true. And he _is _really good-looking._

Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) she was distracted from her thoughts by a derisive snort from behind her. Petunia.

"Hello, Tuney," she said with forced cheerfulness.

Her sister did not reply, choosing instead to sneer haughtily down at James. "And who might _this _be?"

Suddenly rather protective, Lily slung her arm over James's shoulders and placed a light kiss on his cheek. "Oh, this? This is James Potter, my boyfriend."

Petunia's jaw dropped nearly to the floor.

James grinned. "You must be Petunia. It's lovely to meet you."

Petunia mumbled something under her breath that might have been a polite reply.

James's grin never wavered as he said, "Sorry, didn't quite catch that."

Lily had to bite her cheek to stop herself from laughing at Petunia's furious expression.

"I said, the… the _pleasure's _all mine," her sister bit out.

James and Lily traded amused look as Petunia barged past them into the kitchen.

They sat down around the table, Charles and Jasmine beaming and Petunia scowling sullenly.

All through dinner, James kept her parents amused with endless stories about growing up in a magical household, and all the pranks the Marauders pulled at Hogwarts. She and her parents, meanwhile, had a great time explaining the function of all the _"weird _Muggle thingies" around the house.

All in all, it was an excellent evening.

Except for one thing – predictably, Petunia. She snorted, sneered and sniffed distastefully at every story James told, and held herself with a haughty kind of disapproval whenever he enquired about something unfamiliar to him.

Lily was getting sick of it. When Petunia made a particularly disparaging noise following James's eager questions about a microwave, she clenched her fists tightly to prevent from drawing her wand and stormed out of the kitchen.

She was so angry she completely failed to notice that James had followed her – at least until he placed a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

Spinning around, she shot off an instinctive Stinging Hex, which James just barely dodged.

"Sorry," she apologised, lowering her wand guiltily. "I was just… Tuney…"

"I understand," James said, and the warm sympathy in his voice was more than she could bear.

Suddenly she was sobbing, covering her face in her hands and letting the tears she'd been holding back for so long fall.

"Hey…" James's voice was gentle as he wrapped his arms around her.

Burying her head in his chest, she sobbed unashamedly into his shirt.

Pulling herself together after a minute or so, she took a step back and swiped fiercely at her eyes.

"It wasn't always like this," she explained, sighing deeply and meeting James's concerned gaze. "Petunia and I were so close, once."

"What changed?" His voice was soft, kind – it took all her self-control not to burst into tears again.

"Magic," she said simply. "I got my Hogwarts letter. Tuney… she didn't like it at all. I think she was jealous. But when Sev – when _Snape _and I confronted her about it, she snapped and called me a freak."

Lily stared straight ahead, doing her utmost to keep her voice steady.

"I… I didn't realise how bad it had gotten until a few years ago. Tuney had some friends over, and they didn't even _know _she had a sister."

"I'm sorry, Lily," James whispered.

She gave him a watery smile. "It's not your fault."

"I know, it's just –"

"You wanted to do something _more _than just listen?"

"Exactly."

"You're a good listener," she told him, sincerely meaning it.

"Yeah?" he asked, smiling his famous crooked smile.

"Mm-hmm," she hummed.

"Why, thank you."

They stood looking at each other for a while, neither exactly sure what to say, but both wanting to say _something –_

"You are too," James said at length, sincerity shining from his hazel eyes.

"Thanks," she said quietly, and she knew he understood she meant for the comforting, as well.

"You're welcome," he said, pulling her into a warm hug.

* * *

**A/N: so there was chapter 7! I hope you liked it, and sorry again for the long wait.**

**Please do let me know what you thought! There's nothing like a review to keep me motivated and writing :)**


	8. Chapter 8 - Of Love Real and Fake

**A/N: it's been, what, a week since I've updated? That makes this the first on-time update! Yay me!**

**Anyway, a huge shoutout to everyone who has taken the time to read/review/follow this work – it means a lot, guys, thank you so much. **

**Now, here's chapter eight! I hope you enjoy it :)**

* * *

Being with James was becoming so easy Lily sometimes caught herself forgetting that it was fake. But whenever this happened, something _else _would happen as well that would inevitably send her crashing back down to reality.

The very temporary nature of her relationship with James was enforced ten-fold one rainy Friday afternoon, when she and her two best friends were crouched under the Quidditch bleachers sharing around bottles of illicit Butterbeer (courtesy of Marlene's little brother Mike, who was infamous for his ability to nab anything not tied down. One of the perks of being Head Girl was that Lily got to keep all confiscated goods.)

"Remind me again why we have to drink these in secret?" Mary grumbled, looking at her mud-splattered robes in dismay.

"Because our oh-so-saintly Head Girl here can't have anyone finding out how she misuses her authority," Marlene replied with a sly smirk.

"Are you complaining?" Lily asked innocently. "Because if you _are, _I don't mind taking these bottles back to my dorm and finishing them on my own –"

"No, no, we're not complaining," Marlene said hastily, raising her bottle to toast Lily.

"Not about the Butterbeer, no," Mary agreed. "But the location? _Well –" _

"Shh, Mare!" Marlene interrupted suddenly, pointing above them. "Look who it is!"

Mary looked about to complain, but sneaked a glance at the bleachers above them and quieted pretty quickly.

It was, of course, James Potter and Rosamond Fairbourne.

"I don't know, James," Rosamond was saying. "It's like you don't have time for me anymore. All you do is hang out with _her." _

Lily and the other two froze, listening intently.

"Oh, so you wanted me to wait around for you like an idiot while you went off with Davies? I –"

"We should leave," Lily said in a low voice. "This sounds private."

"No way!" Marlene protested. "That's your _boyfriend, _Lily!"

"And they're talking about you!" Mary added.

Lily glared at them, but curiosity overcame her and she stayed still, listening.

"He's not at your beck and call like I was, is he?" James asked, his voice bitter.

There was a brief silence, then James spoke again, his voice half-pleading and half-angry. "Ros, you can't keep doing this to me."

Lily wanted to march out and slap Rosamond for making him sound like that. She had no _right! _She –

_"She's _not coming on the snowflying trip, though, is she?" Rosamond asked suddenly, and Lily could just picture her pouting up at James. "'Cause you promised that would be _our _thing."

"What does it matter?" James snapped, trying his best to sound angry (but Lily could hear the hurt in his voice, however much he tried to hide it.) "You have a _boyfriend, _Rosamond."

"Yeah… But maybe by then, I won't," Rosamond said.

Lily's mouth dropped open. Of all the _low, _vile –

"Oh my gosh," Mary breathed, looking at Lily in shock. "Rosamond is after _your _boyfriend!"

_James doesn't seem to be objecting awfully much, does he? _Lily thought bitterly, swallowing a lump in her throat. One half of her wanted nothing more than to march out and hex both James and Rosamond till unconsciousness, but the other half of her wanted to burst into tears.

_Fake, _her mind kept repeating mockingly at her. _Remember, it's fake. You can't be mad at James, because you don't have anything real with him._

This thought, however, was about as far from comforting as it was possible to get.

* * *

"Oy, Evans!" Sirius's voice startled Lily out of her daydreams.

She looked up, nearly dropping the empty Butterbeer bottles she had offered to throw away in a transparent bid to get away from James and Rosamond.

"I was just wondering if you had seen – whoa, what's up? You look upset." Sirius's tone changed from carefree to concerned in the blink of an eye as he caught up with Lily.

"It's nothing," she said awkwardly, not meeting his eyes.

"Is it Prongs?" Sirius guessed. "Did you two have a fight?"

Still resolutely refusing to look at him, Lily shook her head.

"Well, what did he do, then?"

"Nothing? Why would…" she let the sentence trail away as she finally met Sirius's eyes. He was staring at her with an expression that all too clearly said _stop lying to me. _

"Fine. Yeah. It's about James. Happy?" Lily tore her gaze away from his and stared fixedly at the wall.

"No," Sirius said, spinning her to face him again. "I need to know which one of you two idiots I should be mad at."

"I know you don't want to hear about my… relationship…with James," Lily began.

"Oh, stuff it, Evans, and tell me what's going on."

"I just feel like the more time I spend with James, the more it's going to hurt when he inevitably gets back together with Rosamond," Lily blurted.

"Whoa, whoa, Evans. Hold up. Why on _earth _would Prongs be getting back with Fairbourne?"

"I should have seen it coming," she said bitterly, ignoring his question and forging on determinedly. "I mean, he's completely obsessed with her. Of course he's going to want to get back together with her eventually."

Sirius grabbed her shoulders and shook lightly. "Evans, stop! You're not making any sense."

"No, I'm making perfect sense," she snapped. "James wants to get back together with Rosamond, and I'm going to get hurt because of it. That seems perfectly understandable to me."

"No, it doesn't!" Sirius cried, clearly exasperated. "Why would you think James wants to get back with Fairbourne? He's got you!"

"He didn't seem to remember _that_ when he was talking to her this afternoon," Lily said fiercely, trying to hide how close she was to tears.

"He talked to her?" Sirius asked, looking slightly worried.

Lily crossed her arms. "Yeah. And she seemed dead-set on getting back together with him before the snowflying trip."

"Why, that little –" Sirius began, then stopped quite suddenly. "Wait. What did _he _say about all of this?"

"Well, he had no objections," she said coldly. "He just sat there."

"He was probably in shock," Sirius said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "But you don't have to worry about a thing, Evans. There's no way Prongs is ditching _you _for Fairbourne."

"You don't under–" Lily began, but stopped as James himself appeared in the doorway.

"Lily!" he called, spotting her.

"See you later," Sirius said, giving her a little push in his direction. _"Talk to him,"_ he added in an undertone.

"People are going to get entirely the wrong idea if they see you cosying up to Sirius," James said accusingly when they were out of earshot.

"They're going to get even _more _ideas if they hear you were practically _begging _to get back together with Rosamond on the bleachers," Lily countered sharply.

"Oh, so you're spying on me now?" James asked incredulously.

"Not intentionally!" she protested.

James grabbed her arm and pulled her into an empty classroom. She sat down on one of the desks, folding her arms and glaring resolutely at him.

"Okay, I was talking to Rosamond," he burst out. "But _so what? _You're not exactly a model girlfriend either! Look how close you _just _were to Sirius."

"You're being ridiculous," Lily snapped. "Sirius is your best mate, he'd never do that to you."

She got up and paced in terse, angry circles around the desk. "Look, James, I don't think either of us thought this was going to go on for this long. But, well, Snape never comes near me anymore, and Rosamond is officially jealous. I think it's time to end this thing once and for all."

James looked alarmed for a second, then understanding dawned. "Oh, I get it. You're trying to break up with me before the snowflying trip. That's in the contract, in case you've forgotten."

"Only if we're still together," she countered.

"We _are _still together! You're just trying to pull out because you're scared!" He raised a hand to his hair, glaring at her in frustration. "How many times must we go over this, huh, Lily? _I'm not going to hurt you like Snape did."_

Lily was silent, because how on earth could she possibly tell him that he already had? And it wasn't even his fault.

It was hers.

She had stupidly gone and developed _real _feelings for her fake boyfriend – no point in denying it anymore – feelings which he obviously didn't return.

So she folded her arms and said as calmly as she could, "I'll go if Mary goes."

* * *

"Lily, why is James harassing me about going on the snowflying trip?" Mary asked suspiciously, bursting into the Head Girl dormitory and interrupting Lily's reading.

"You know I don't go to things like that!" she continued, folding her arms across her chest in a no-nonsense way that distinctly reminded Lily of Mrs Macdonald.

"I know," she said cheerfully. "Which is why I told him I'd only go if _you _go."

"Wait, what? No, Lily! You have to go! Besides, Rosamond is definitely going to make a move on James if you're not there."

"So let her," Lily said firmly. "I'm sick and tired of her and her little group of pureblood princesses constantly whispering about me in the hallways."

_"Lily!" _

"What?" she asked tiredly.

"You can't let Rosamond get what she wants!" Mary burst out. "She _always _gets what she wants, and I'm sick and tired of _that." _

"Besides," she added darkly after a few moments of silence. _"You _get James. I'll make sure of it."

Smirking at Lily, she said resolutely, "I'm coming on that trip."

_"No," _Lily said emphatically.

"Since you've been with James… well, I don't know what exactly it is, Lily, but I've never seen you so happy."

"She's right, you know," Marlene's voice called from the doorway.

Lily spun around and groaned. "Not you too."

Marlene ignored her and went on resolutely. "I've never seen you having so much fun – going to parties, making new friends, you name it."

"I…" Lily began, but Marlene talked her down.

"We want you to be happy, Lily. You deserve it, if anyone does." Marlene's usual smirk was replaced with a genuinely kind, affectionate smile as she looked down at Lily.

"That's really sweet, Marls," she said softly.

Marlene nodded, straight-faced. "So will you go?"

Lily groaned and threw her with a pillow. "You're terrible!"

"And proud of it," Marlene said, smirk returning full force.

"But seriously, Lily," Mary put in. "We _do _want you to be happy. And if being with James makes you happy, that's what we'll see to it you do."

"Oh, _all right," _Lily relented.

Mary and Marlene exchanged delighted looks, then threw themselves on top of Lily in an ecstatic hug.

Lily laughed right along with them, thinking not for the first time how lucky she was to have such wonderful friends.

* * *

**A/N: next chapter will be the snowflying trip – but until then, what did you think of this one? Please do let me know! **

**See you guys soon!**


	9. Chapter 9 - Of Snow and Snogging

**A/N: hello again, guys! I'm so proud of myself for actually updating on time (again!)**

**Now, as you probably realised, this chapter will be the snowflying trip (including that infamous hot tub scene.) I feel duty-bound to give a WARNING** **for, er well, _the hot tub scene._**

**OK, that's all, I think. Now for the chapter you've all been waiting for (at least if you're anything like me.) **

**I'll stop talking in a moment, I just want to draw this out for a _little _bit longer...**

**OK, OK, done. Enjoy!**

* * *

Lily shivered and wrapped her cloak a little tighter around her body. Catching her eye from across the entrance hall, James gave her a cheeky wink.

Lily rolled her eyes at him and bit her lip to hide a smile. She saw Marlene nudge Sirius, nodding gleefully at James and then at Lily.

Lily groaned, opening her mouth to snap a retort, but McGonagall cut her off by briskly opening the castle's doors. A blast of icy wind swept into the castle as the Deputy Headmistress said, "The carriages are ready. Eight students per carriage, please."

The Marauders were the first out of the door, Sirius pulling Marlene along behind him. Lily smiled, resolving to tease her friend as soon as they arrived at Glenshee.

Mary and Lily clambered into the carriage, Remus holding the door open for them. Mary immediately made her way to the back, slumping exhaustedly against the window of the carriage.

Smiling, Lily made to join her, but was stopped by James standing up and catching her wrist. "Hey, where are you going?"

She pulled her hand out of his grip, firmly suppressing the little flutter in her stomach his touch set off. "I'm going to sit with Mary," she said innocently, knowing full well what was coming next.

"With Mary? Come on, Lily! Look at her - she's fast asleep," he said in disbelief.

"All the more reason to go sit with her," Lily said coolly. Ignoring James's exasperated snort, she made her way resolutely to the back of the carriage and settled herself next to Mary.

She regretted it almost as soon as she sat, because no other than Rosamond had just climbed into the carriage. "Is this seat taken?" she asked coyly, stopping next to James.

He glanced back at Lily, who forced herself to look away. "No," he said at length, turning back to Rosamond with a defeated air.

_It's for the best,_ Lily told herself, resolutely not looking at the two of them. She couldn't fail to miss Rosamond's triumphant smirk as she sat down, though.

"This was a mistake," Mary groaned, providing a much-needed distraction by shifting to pillow her head on Lily's shoulder. "Remind me to never, ever get up this early for a school function again."

"Will do," Lily said in the most cheerful tone she could summon, resting her head on Mary's and doing her utmost to ignore the desolate, empty feeling in the pit of her stomach.

* * *

About three hours after they had set off, the carriages pulled up in front of a large log lodge sprinkled with a light dusting of fine white snow. Even to Lily, who knew next to nothing about snowflying, it looked pretty incredible.

She and Mary lagged behind the rest of the students, chatting leisurely about the Weird Sisters' latest hit (which Lily had never heard, but had no intention of, despite Mary's attempts to persuade her otherwise.)

As they rounded a corner into the lodge's large, comfortable-looking sitting room, she heard their chaperone, Madam Jezebel's voice calling the students to order. "So old McGonagall was saying, sleep only in your own rooms!" She did a highly insulting imitation of the Deputy Headmistress, waving several sheets of parchment around.

Lily pursed her lips disapprovingly, her frown growing as Jezebel continued, winking at the assembled students. "But then I said, overruled! Sleep where you will, snowflyers!"

The crowd in the sitting room burst into applause and laughter, and Madam Jezebel bowed left and right, smirking.

Lily rolled her eyes and grabbed Mary's arm, pulling her away from the sitting room and towards the bedrooms.

"Hey, James!" Rosamond's voice called, and Lily spotted the girl herself leaning over the stair railing and waving flirtatiously at James. "Will I be seeing you on the Black Diamond?"

At James's nod, she continued, "Last one down buys the other three Firewhiskeys, mm-kay?"

Lily determinedly stifled her scowl and instead folded her arms, resolutely not looking over at James and Sirius.

"Go get him," Mary said, nodding encouragingly at James.

For a few moments, Lily allowed herself to contemplate the thought. If she went to James now, there was a good chance that she could keep him away from Rosamond for the rest of the weekend.

But then reality came crashing down, and she shook her head. "Are you kidding? I can't go down the Black Diamond. I don't even know how to snowfly, for Merlin's sake!"

Mary stared incredulously at her. "If you're not going to snowfly, what are you going to do all weekend?"

"I came prepared," Lily said, pleased with herself, showing Mary the satchel full of books she had packed.

"Oh, no!" Mary exclaimed dramatically. "Lily, this is really a major setback for you!"

Spotting Remus standing casually a few metres away, she waved him over. "Help me convince our dear Lily to come snowflying with us."

Remus snorted. "Are you mad? I'm not going snowflying! It's cold out there, and I don't do cold."

"What?!" Mary gasped. "Remus Lupin, I can't believe you!"

He gave her a disarming grin and slung an arm around Lily's shoulders. "Sorry, Mary, but I'm fully on Lily's side on this one."

Triumphant, Lily said, "Excellent! I brought a chess set - want to try it out?"

Remus nodded eagerly, and Mary threw her hands into the air in exasperation. Marching over to the Marauders' group, she began whispering urgently to Marlene.

"Uh-oh. Time to go," Lily said as both girls turned to stare accusingly at her. Still with Remus's arm over her shoulders, she fled the sitting room and made for her dormitory.

* * *

"So you two have been faking it the entire time?" Remus asked, staring at Lily with mingled shock and admiration from over the edge of his book.

"Yes," she replied glumly. "But you have to promise not to tell anyone."

"My lips are sealed," he assured her.

"Thanks, Remus," she said softly. "I…I'm so confused, I guess I just needed to let it out."

Remus patted her arm gently. "Anytime. But, Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"I know that James likes you. For real. I can tell by the way he looks at you."

Lily sighed. "I wish that was true."

"It is! Have you even seen how he looks at you?"

"Okay, how does he look at me?"

"Like you're the only girl in the world," Remus said simply.

Lily shook her head. "You're wrong, Remus. I wish you weren't, truly I do, but you just are. He's still so obsessed with Rosamond... The worst part is that now I'm just another one of the stupid girls who fell for Potter. It's so embarrassing! I -"

"It's natural to be a little obsessed with your first girlfriend," Remus interrupted. Looking her directly in the eye, he went on, "Especially for someone like James, who's been rejected so many times."

Lily winced.

"I don't blame you for that," Remus assured her. "Not at all. Prongs was a massive prat back then - you would have been mad to say yes to him. But then he went for that talk with Dumbledore, and came back changed enough to become Head Boy. He also finally - finally - got over you enough to go out with someone else.

"Rosamond was - is - so important to him because she was the first girl who said yes. But, Lily, much as he used to like her, he never stopped fancying you. Not really. Oh, he'll deny it, but you are and always will be the only girl for James."

"You really think so?" Lily asked quietly, feeling the faintest flicker of hope fluttering in her chest.

"Let's look at the facts. The whole fake relationship was his idea, right?" At Lily's nod, he continued, "You came up with the no-snogging rule, and you're the one who keeps trying to break up with him. You're also the one who is currently complaining to a werewolf while he's probably waiting for you in the baths."

Smiling supportively at her, Remus concluded, "So I say, if there's anyone who stupidly fell for someone who doesn't like them back, it's not you. It's James."

Lily returned his smile. "Thanks, Remus."

A brief silence. Then, "Do you really think he's waiting for me in the baths?"

"Sweet Merlin, yes!"

* * *

Lily chewed her lip nervously as she approached the bathhouse. What if Remus was wrong? What if James did not, after all, feel the same way?

_Shut up and go get him,_ snapped a voice in her head that sounded oddly like Marlene's.

Taking a deep breath, Lily pushed open the bathhouse door, striding in before she could change her mind.

She saw James immediately - and Remus had been right. He was alone, and it certainly looked like he was waiting for someone.

"All by yourself out here?" Lily asked, stopping by the edge of the bath and keeping her eyes firmly on his face, because _damn, _he was fit.

James looked up, startled, then saw her and snorted, looking down again at once.

Lily's smile faded. "What, are you ignoring me now?"

James's laugh was bitter. "Oh, _I'm_ the one ignoring _you?_ That's funny."

"Well, I can't even snowfly," Lily retorted, stung. "And you didn't even offer to teach me."

"Oh, I'm supposed to be Mr Nice Boyfriend after you ignore me for the entire carriage ride? You didn't even sit with me!"

"Shouldn't you be thanking me?" Lily asked bitterly. "You got to sit next to who you actually wanted to."

James stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds, then shook his head. "For someone who has such good grades, you can be incredibly dense sometimes."

"What?" she asked, confused. Surely he wasn't saying -

"That's right," he said, the intensity of his gaze on hers catching her by surprise. "I wanted to sit next to you, Lily."

She stared at him, an astonished smile beginning to tug at her lips.

"I even packed the snacks," he went on. "I asked Mary where to find those Muggle cookies you like so much."

"Jaffa cakes?!" Lily gazed at him in amazement. "But, James, you would have had to go all the way to Castletown for those!"

"I know," he said with a quick grin. "So if I went all the way to Castletown to get you something that you like, that means...?"

"You must really like Jaffa cakes," Lily said lightly, going out of her way to be casual to cover up the rapid beating of her heart.

James splashed her, in equal parts annoyed and amused. "You are impossible," he informed her, smiling that infamous crooked smile.

"I'm sorry I didn't sit next to you in the carriage," she said, climbing onto the edge of the bath.

"It's alright," he said softly.

That did it for Lily. Shrugging off her coat, she stepped feet first into the bath.

"Uh, you're coming in? In your nightdress?" James asked, adorably confused.

"Are you complaining, Potter?" she challenged, swimming towards him.

"Not on your life," he breathed as she stopped right in front of him.

Suddenly awkward, Lily shifted a little in the water, accidentally brushing his leg with hers. They both drew in their breaths sharply at the contact.

They stared at each other in complete silence for a few moments, green eyes locked with hazel in a silent battle.

James gave in first, pulling her flush against him with a uniquely James grin. "There's no one like you, Evans," he whispered, lowering his head till their faces were millimetres apart.

They shared a quick smile; then, as though on a silent signal, they both leaned in, closing the remaining distance between them.

Lily sighed contentedly as their lips met, slow and gentle and _perfect._

They separated a few seconds later, staring at each other with undisguised amazement.

"We just did that," James breathed, his warm hazel eyes never leaving hers.

"We did," Lily agreed, smiling softly and leaning in to kiss him again.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close, and she placed a hand on his bare chest. Everything else faded into the background – it was just the two of them, and that was exactly how it should be.

* * *

They walked up to the dormitories together, Lily's arm wrapped around James's, stealing affectionate glances the entire length of the trip. Anyone who saw them couldn't help but notice how happy they were – indeed, most passers-by concluded that they were simply made for each other.

James and Lily themselves had no such grand notions – they were just _happy. _Happy to finally be together, really and truly.

James came to a stop as they reached Lily's dormitory door, tugging on their linked hands so Lily spun into his arms.

She laughed a little breathlessly, looking up at him with shining green eyes.

He bent his head towards her, and she rose up on her tiptoes, meeting in the middle in a gentle, loving kiss.

"Goodnight, Lily," he whispered as she dropped back down from her toes, smiling.

"Goodnight," she returned affectionately.

She walked backwards to the dorm door, keeping her eyes and smile directed at James until her back bumped into the door.

He did the same, giving her a final smile before turning and making his way down the stairs.

She opened her door and collapsed on her bed, her smile refusing to fade even as she fell asleep.

* * *

**A/N: aww, fluffy Jily ending! One can't get enough fluff, in my opinion. Shame this story is going to take such a distinctly _non-_fluffy turn very soon. (Oops, spoiler. Well, no, not really. I assume you all _have _seen the movie?)**

**That's enough rambling from me - what did you guys think about this chapter? Please do let me know!**

**(Oh, I can't resist - there _will _be more Jily fluff later on. Promise!)**


	10. Chapter 10 - Of Things Too Good To Last

**A/N: first of all, my sincerest apologies to everyone who has this story on update alert and thought I had just updated like nine times. Sadly, that's not the case – I've just been obsessively editing out some of the spelling and grammar mistakes I noticed in the previous chapter. At this point I'd like to give a huge shoutout to my sister and beta avatar amy for noticing these – I don't know _what _I'd do without you.**

**Secondly, I'm taking a moment to be proud of myself for actually updating on time (again!) And that is _despite _the challenges I've taken on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges Forum and my studies. **

**Thirdly, thank you so much to everybody who has followed and favourited this story. It means a lot to me, guys – thanks again!**

**Fourthly – no, I don't think there _is _anything, actually. Which is probably a good thing – I'm sure you're all getting heartily annoyed with my lengthy rambling by now. **

**Finally, here's chapter ten! Enjoy!**

* * *

Lily woke up with a smile on her face. Initially she was a little confused as to _why, _but then the events of the previous night came flooding back, and her smile doubled in size.

She and James were together. She and _James _were together. She and James were _together!_

Still grinning hugely, Lily rolled out of her bed and got dressed, packing up her things with more than a little regret. Despite her worst expectations, she had ended up enjoying the trip a lot more than she had ever imagined.

As she walked out of the lodge, the small crowd of boys waiting for the carriages burst into cheers and applause. Lily froze, uncomfortable and unsure what was going on, then saw James wave her over.

"Morning," she said with a smile, accepting his hand to climb into the carriage that had just pulled up in front of them.

"Morning," he answered, smiling as she sat down next to him.

Lily cleared her throat, uncertain how to broach the subject. Eventually she decided just to go for it – after all, it was _James, _and if he didn't understand, nobody would.

"Er… You didn't tell anyone about last night, did you?" she asked, feeling stupid as soon as the question left her lips.

"Of course not, Lily," he said sincerely. "Remus had this knowing grin all night, though, so I think he guessed."

"Well, it's just –"

"The clapping?" he asked, looking relieved. "Oh, you don't have to worry about _that. _It's just a thing they all do for couples on the ski trip. You came out a bit late, so you missed it, but they did the same thing for Sirius and Marlene."

"Wait, Sirius and Marlene? They're together, now?"

"Apparently," James said with a grin. "It all started with a race down the Black Diamond and several Firewhiskeys at the bottom."

"That sounds about right," Lily said, returning his grin.

"Lily?"

"Yes?"

"I'm pretty tired – would you mind if I slept on your shoulder a bit?" He blinked owlishly up at her in a way that she found entirely too adorable to refuse.

"Stayed up all night talking to your fellow Marauders, did you?" she teased.

"Maybe," he said, taking her answer as a _yes _and resting his head on her shoulder.

"You should know better, honestly," she said, snuggling into his side.

"Mmm, that's why I have you," he replied, his voice muffled by her hair.

Lily saw Rosamond peer into their carriage, then duck back out, scowling, as she saw James dozing on Lily's shoulder.

Lily tried and failed not to feel smug. _After all, _she reflected, _I have everything. I think it's perfectly acceptable to feel a little smug about it._

Comforted by the thought, she rested her head on James's and closed her eyes, completely contented with the world.

* * *

The contented feeling still hadn't faded when Lily was carrying her things back up to her dorm. She found herself humming _Can You Feel The Love Tonight _from the Lion King, and took a moment to be amused at just how lovestruck she was.

She should have known it was all too good to last.

"Hey, Lily!" Rosamond's voice called from the bottom of the staircase. The song died on Lily's lips as she turned around, instinctively tensing up for a fight.

However, Rosamond was smiling widely, and had no wand in sight. "I think it's really amazing that you came on the snowflying trip," she said, tucking a stray curl of hair behind one ear.

"Gosh, thank you," Lily said, voice laced with sarcasm (which Rosamond conveniently failed to notice.) "If that's all, I'd better be going."

"Oh, no, wait just a moment," Rosamond said, tapping her on the elbow. Lily turned back around, plastering a wide, fake smile on her face that almost outshone Rosamond's.

"I wanted to thank you for being so understanding," Rosamond said, her eyes fastening on Lily's and glittering with something almost like triumph. "I mean, you've been so nice about my friendship with James."

Lily gritted her teeth and widened her smile still further, a feat which she hadn't thought possible until that moment. "Oh, you know. I try."

"I mean, a lot of girls would be freaked out by the idea of their boyfriend spending the night in another girl's room, but you're so trusting."

Lily froze, not even noticing that her smile had faded. Rosamond wasn't even bothering to hide her smugness anymore.

"I don't know about you, but my hair always gets so greasy after such a long trip," she said confidingly. Reaching into her robe's pocket, she pulled out an all-too-familiar red-and-gold scrunchie.

"Where did you get that?" Lily asked, hardly daring to believe her eyes.

"This?" Rosamond asked, looking down and pretending to be surprised. "Oh, James gave it to me. Isn't it just so cute? I love the colours in it."

Flipping back her hair, she tied it back with _Lily's _scrunchie, smug triumph in her gaze as she looked at Lily.

"Yes," Lily said faintly. "Yes, great colours. Sorry, I – I've got to go."

She left Rosamond still smirking on the step.

* * *

Lily paced the Heads' common room in terse, angry circles, glaring at the door and waiting for James to show up.

When he eventually did, he showed no signs that anything was wrong. "Hi, Lily," he said with a cheerful smile, stepping forward to kiss her on the cheek.

Lily jerked back, ignoring the surprised and hurt expression on his face. "Did you go to Rosamond's room last night?" she asked bleakly.

James froze, looking stunned. "I… well, yes, but –"

"And did you give her my favourite scrunchie?" Lily pressed on. Clearing her throat to get rid of the heavy lump that seemed to have settled there, she asked bitterly, "Am I just a joke to you, James?"

"No!" he exclaimed, looking horrified. "No, Lily, of course you're not! You could never be a joke to me. You just don't understand the situation –"

"No, I understand the situation just fine," she snapped, cutting him off. Ignoring the prickling of hot tears in the back of her eyes, she gestured between them and said resolutely, "This… this is over. In every possible way."

"No, Lily, wait! Can't we – can't we _talk _about this? I can explain everything if you just _listen._"

"There's nothing to talk about," Lily said coldly, turning away from him despite every instinct telling her to listen, to give him a chance.

He had had his chance, and he had failed her.

* * *

**A/N: that's a _terrible _place to cut the chapter, I know, but I wanted to do the entire forgiveness arc in the next chapter. **

**I detest leaving James and Lily in this position about as much as you detest reading it, so I'll _definitely _be updating on time. Tune in this time next Saturday for chapter 11. In the meantime, please review! **

**See you guys soon. **


	11. Chapter 11 - Of Sobbing and Scandals

**A/N: I'm so glad I updated this on time – the cliffhanger from the previous chapter was _killing _me, and I'm sure you guys weren't exactly enjoying it either. **

**I'll keep this Author's Note short and sweet (because who wants to listen to my mad rambling now?) Enjoy Chapter 11!**

* * *

Lily closed the door to her dorm firmly behind her, placing a locking charm on it just in case.

She collapsed on her bed, fully ready to cry her heart out, but Mary's cheery voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Lily! We were wondering where you had gotten to," she said, appearing from Lily's bathroom with Marlene in tow.

"Hello," Lily said as cheerfully as she could, plastering a smile on her face and hugging her friends.

"It feels like _forever _since we've had a girls' night," Marlene confided, stretching herself out on Lily's bed.

"That's why we're here," Mary continued. "That, and because Marlene seriously – or should I say _Siriusly – _needs to spill the beans."

Marlene groaned and buried her head in Lily's pillow, but even that couldn't hide the giddy smile on her face.

Finding this all a good distraction from her own problems, Lily grinned and joined in Mary's teasing. "Yes, come on, Marls. Tell us! We want to know _everything."_

Marlene rolled over, staring up at the ceiling with a huge, happy grin. "Well…" she said.

"Don't leave us hanging!" Mary prompted.

Marlene rolled her eyes, but her giddy smile rather ruined the effect. "It started when we raced down the Black Diamond. I don't know if you heard, but there was a bet going on – loser buys the winner three Firewhiskeys. Sirius and I tied, so we shared bought them together and shared them."

Lily and Mary nodded along, chins cupped in their hands.

"We were both slightly drunk, and so we reached for the same bottle and ended up trying to drink out of it at the same time. And then –"

"You snogged?" Mary chimed in eagerly.

Marlene nodded, still smiling contentedly. "After we'd, er, found our own bottles again, Sirius asked me out. Said he wanted to do it all properly. We're going to Hogsmeade together next trip."

"That's fantastic, Marly!" Lily said, genuinely happy for her friend.

"Thanks. But what about you? You and James seemed _very _happy on the trip back," Marlene said slyly.

Lily's smile froze. "We…"

She was saved from having to reply by a loud knock on the door. "I'd better get that," she said, jumping up and rushing to the door despite her friends' probing looks.

James was standing outside the door, looking serious. "Lily," he said, relief flashing in his eyes when she opened the door. "We need to talk."

With a look back at her friends, who were staring at her back with great curiosity, she said softly, "Not here."

Closing the door behind her, Lily ran down the stairs and out through the Heads' Common room. Once she was in the corridor and out of earshot, she folded her arms and turned to James.

"Just so you know, _nothing _happened between me and Rosamond last night," he said, voice pleading with her to believe him.

Lily shook her head, angry at herself for wanting nothing more than to hug him and tell him it was all fine, they would be fine. "Maybe. But what _did_ happen was that you went to her room in the first place."

"Look, Rosamond was my first girlfriend," he explained, expression anguished. "You can't expect me to just forget about that."

"I'm tired of being your second best… or fake best, or… I don't know," Lily said, voice cracking.

"No, you don't," James said, catching her arm as she tried to turn back into the dormitory. "Last night was…"

He paused, evidently searching for the right word, but Lily cut him off. "Last night was a mistake," she said bitterly. "Physical stuff might not be a big deal to you, but to me it _is."_

"Who says that it's not a big deal to me?" James asked, clearly annoyed.

He had no right to be.

"Says every single guy in the school!" Lily snarled. "Clapping and praising you like you're some kind of hero, and you're just eating it up! I thought you had _changed, _James. I thought you didn't like that kind of attention anymore."

"Look, I –" James began, but Lily cut him off again, shaking her head.

"James, just leave," she said, voice trembling slightly.

"Can we just go inside and talk about this? _Please?"_

"She asked you to leave," a new voice interrupted. Lily would recognise it anywhere – it was Snape.

"Sev – Snape, I'm fine. Go back to your common room," Lily told him.

"I'm not going anywhere," Snape said, black eyes gleaming nastily.

James's eyes flashed with anger. "Wait, _what?_ Lily, you can't be serious!"

Lily looked between him and Snape, who were scowling at each other, and found herself lost for words.

James noticed this, and his anger worsened. "This isn't about me and Rosamond at all, is it?" he asked bitterly. "It's about you and Snape! _This _is the reason why you broke up with me. You want to be with _him!"_

"If Lily broke up with you, it's probably because she's come to the life-altering realisation that she's too good for you," Snape told James, voice oozing smug triumph.

"You two broke up?" Mary's alarmed voice called from the doorway.

Lily froze. She hadn't seen her friends there.

"Why didn't you _tell _us, Lily?" Marlene asked, sounding shocked and hurt.

Mary looked dismayed. "You don't trust us anymore, do you?"

Lily was too horrified to reply. Taking this as an affirmative, Mary and Marlene turned away, both looking stricken.

Lily spun around to face the two boys, feeling rage and desperate sadness well up in her chest. How had everything gone so horribly wrong in so little time?

"Go away, James!" she said, voice breaking towards the end as burning tears gathered in her eyes.

James looked silently at her, his hazel eyes filled with emotion. Lily felt her heart shatter again at the desperate pleading in his gaze.

"Go away," she repeated, voice stronger.

James blinked, pain flashing in his eyes, then nodded and turned to walk away. But halfway down the corridor he stopped and said softly, gaze finding and holding hers: "Just so you know, Lily, you could never be second best to me."

The tears she had been holding back for so long spilled over her cheeks as she sank to the floor, sobbing.

A hand touched her shoulder, and she jerked, startled, looking up to see Snape standing there with a sympathetic, but still slightly smug expression.

"It's for the best, Lily," he said, patting her shoulder again.

Lily leapt to her feet, her tears now more of rage than grief. "You! Get away from me!"

"But, Lily –" he tried.

"NO!" she shouted. "You're no better than James! It's just as much your fault that my friends hate me. And how _dare _you pretend to comfort me? All you want is to gloat that you were right about James."

"That's not true –"

"BE QUIET! I've had _enough _of your slimy excuses, Snape. If you try to speak to me again after tonight, I will hex you into the next century. Do you understand me?"

"You don't mean that," he snapped, eyes flashing defiantly.

Lily whipped out her wand and pointed it straight at his heart. "Try me," she said, voice hard and dangerous.

Snape stared at her in silence for a few moments, then shook his head. "You've changed, Lily."

Lily's wand did not waver. "Good."

"You're making a mistake, Lily. Someday you'll see that."

"I already have," she said. "I was wrong about so much. But I was _right _when I told you we were over forever."

Without sparing him a second glance, Lily marched back into the Heads' dormitories, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

As soon as she reached her own room, Lily flung open the drawer of her desk and started throwing out whatever she could lay her hands on.

After a full minute of frantic searching, she found it.

CONTRACT Oct. 15

Her fingers trembled as she read down the lines of writing, a single tear splashing onto James's messy signature.

Furious at herself, Lily ripped the contract viciously in half, and then again and again until it resembled nothing more than several straggly strands of confetti.

Pulling out her wand, she pointed it at the scraps and whispered, _"Evanesco."_

They vanished as though they had never existed.

A few more tears slipped free, and Lily found herself wishing that she could vanish the pain she felt as easily.

"At least the worst is over," she told herself, drawing in a deep breath and swiping fiercely at her eyes.

She could get past this. It would be hard, but she could do it.

* * *

The next morning, Lily was late for breakfast, and noticed that all the people in the corridors seemed to be whispering and pointing an awful lot.

_Rumours of the break-up with James have spread like wildfire, _she reflected bitterly, sitting down by herself in the furthest corner of the Gryffindor table.

A large tawny owl swooped in to bring her the paper, and she took it without really looking at the headlines.

It was only when she was getting up to go to class that she saw it.

Right there – _on the front page – _was a wizard photograph of her and James snogging in the baths.

SNOWFLYING SCANDAL, the headlines screamed.

Lily staggered, and for one dreadful moment she thought she might faint.

But she caught herself just in time, making her way in a dream-like haze to the little alcove where she, Mary and Marlene used to giggle together before class.

"Mary," she said. "Marlene."

They both froze, looking up at her with identical shocked expressions.

"I need your help," Lily somehow managed to say.

She must have looked even more pathetic than she thought, because after exchanging a quick glance, they pulled her into the alcove with them.

"It's about the front page news, isn't it?" Mary asked.

Mutely, Lily nodded.

"Well," Marlene said, peering over Lily's shoulder at the paper. "You're completely covered up, and you can only see your back. For all these people know, it could be anybody."

"No," Lily said, covering her face. "No, they know it's me. Whoever took the photograph _knew _it was us – that's part of what makes this article so damning. _If the Hogwarts Head Students are snogging in the baths, what does that say about the disciplinary standards in the school?" _she asked, reading aloud from the passage.

Mary snatched the paper from her grasp. "Who wrote this?"

"Er… Malicia Meddlin," Lily said, not sure where her friend was going with this.

Mary punched the air triumphantly. "Ha! We've got her. Malicia Meddlin isn't supposed to be writing at all – she was sued for writing a false, gossipy story one too many times, and the _Prophet _was forced to fire her."

"They were supposed to, anyway," Marlene filled in. "But, clearly, they didn't. If the Wizengamot official of the case – who just happens to be my Uncle Edward – hears about this, the _Prophet _will be in deep trouble."

Lily felt a spark of hope ignite in her chest. "So you think we can fix this?"

Mary and Marlene smiled up at her. "Absolutely."

And they did. Marlene – with the help of Uncle Edward – wrote a scorcher of a letter to the _Daily Prophet, _and got the story retracted in a matter of twenty-four hours. She even got them to publish a public apology.

Better yet, Lily's friendship with Mary and Marlene was fully restored. Although (as Marlene put it) she was now duty-bound to tell them anything and everything, in case she got herself into another mess when they weren't there to help her.

But Lily didn't mind. Having her friends back was enough for her.

Well… almost enough.

She still didn't have James.

_But, _she told herself firmly, _there's nothing to be done about that._

* * *

**A/N: yes, I'm terrible, I know. But the next chapter will wrap everything up, I promise.**


	12. Chapter 12 - Of Tears and Third Chances

**A/N: first of all, thank you to my wonderful sister avatar amy for picking up on a plot hole from way back in Chapter 4 (which I have now fixed.) If any of you spotted this too, kudos to you – I missed it completely. **

**Secondly, I know a lot of you were probably pretty annoyed with me for the endings of the last two chapters – well, I'm glad to say that this chapter finally cleans everything up. **

**Thirdly, if you're enjoying this story, please do leave me a review! If you already have, cheers to you. **

**And fourthly, I've kept you hanging for long enough. Enjoy Chapter 12!**

* * *

One week later, Lily was coping much better than she had expected – she threw herself into her schoolwork and her Head duties, and found it all to be a wonderful distraction. She even managed to convince her friends that she was, in fact, fine.

Or so she thought.

The Friday before the February Hogsmeade visit, Mary and Marlene cornered Lily in her dormitory and demanded to know what was wrong.

"Nothing," Lily said with a smile. "I'm just a little tired, that's all."

"Bollocks," Marlene said roundly. "We've known you for seven years, Lil. We can see when you're hurting."

"I'm not –" Lily tried, but Marlene cut her off with a wave of her hand.

"Of _course _you're hurting, Lily. You just broke up with your first-ever boyfriend."

"I'd be a lot more worried if you _weren't _hurting," Mary added. "It's natural to feel this way after a break-up."

Their sympathy and understanding was too much for Lily. Sitting down heavily on her bed, she buried her face in her hands. "What do you want me to say?"

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to," Marlene said. "But you need to ease up on this crazy schedule you've set yourself. It's not healthy."

"There are other things to do if you want to take your mind off things," Mary said, her shrewd gaze resting on Lily's massive heap of homework.

"Like flying, for instance," Marlene suggested, smiling brightly. "We can go right now, if you want. The pitch is lovely this time of day."

A single tear traced its way down Lily's cheek. "No," she said raggedly. "Not flying. I… I can't."

"But I thought James was teaching you?" Mary asked, then clapped a hand to her mouth. "Oh, Lily…"

"It's okay," she said, though it really wasn't.

James's smile flashed through her mind, complete with sparkling hazel eyes and crooked glasses. She could just see him offering a hand to help her onto her broom, steadying her with a warm touch on her shoulder, calling cheerful encouragements as she made tentative circles around the pitch.

A few more tears splashed into her lap, and she swiped fiercely at her eyes.

"Lily…" Marlene's voice was tentative as she placed a hand on Lily's arm. "We understand that you're hurting, but you don't have to hide it from us."

"We won't think any less of you for it," Mary promised. "And if you ever need a pair of shoulders to cry on, well, we're here for you."

Fresh tears welled up in Lily's eyes, but she managed a watery smile. "Thank you," she said, drawing a deep breath. "That means a lot to me."

"That's what friends are for," Marlene and Mary said in unison, and all three of them laughed.

Lily realised then that she hadn't laughed properly since the break-up.

Her friends had been right. This wasn't healthy.

Wiping at her eyes again, she cracked a genuine smile. "Do you feel like going down to the kitchens for some treacle tart?"

Mary and Marlene broke into relieved grins. "That's the Lily we know!"

"She's here to stay," Lily promised, linking her arms through her friends' and skipping down to the kitchen with them, happier than she had been for the whole week.

* * *

They were making their way back up from the kitchens when it happened.

It started out innocently enough – just a group of seventh-year girls and a few of their boyfriends chatting and laughing in a group. Then one of the guys – Edgar Corner, if she was remembering right – called out, "Hey, Evans, shagged anyone else in the baths lately?"

All three of them froze where they stood.

Marlene was the first to react, whipping her wand from her robes and pointing it straight at Corner's face. "Say that again," she said, voice hard with anger.

Corner blanched, taking a step back and raising his hands. "Easy, McKinnon. It was just a bit of fun, nothing serious –"

"Just a bit of fun?" Marlene snarled. "How _dare _you? _Aculeus!"_

Corner collapsed on the floor, screaming as the Stinging Jinx took devastating effect.

_"No-one _insults my friends," Marlene snarled at him, giving his prone form a kick before turning contemptuously away.

Her eyes fell on the photograph pinned to the wall where Corner had been standing, and her rage doubled.

"You absolute bastards!" she exploded. "I'm giving you ten seconds to get the hell out of here before I hex the lot of you into the next century."

"Damn, McKinnon," Sirius's voice drawled, cutting into the buzzing that was filling Lily's ears. "I didn't know you had it in you."

Marlene just pointed at the wall, still shaking with rage. Sirius's smirk vanished at once, and he ripped the photograph off, scowling thunderously.

"Who put this up?" he snarled.

"We don't know," Mary said, giving the photograph a look filled with loathing. "But I'm not letting it stay around for another second. _Evanesco."_

The photograph vanished in Sirius's hands, and he gave her a grim nod, before turning to Marlene.

"Are you all right, McKinnon? You look pretty shaken up."

"It doesn't matter," she said roughly, ducking away from the arm he slung over her shoulders. "Lily's who you should be worrying about."

But Lily had taken advantage of her friends' distraction to slip out of the knot of students, walking away from the scene as quickly as her feet could carry her. Her whole body was shaking, and her eyes were burning with unshed tears.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" an all-too-familiar voice cut into her numb haze. "What's going on?"

Lily slapped James's hands away with vicious anger. "You didn't even try to deny it," she snarled at him.

"What? Lily, I don't –"

"You just let everybody think we shagged in that bath when you know perfectly well we didn't?" Reasonably, Lily knew that it wasn't James's fault, but it felt far too good to take out her anger on someone.

"I bet you're just _thrilled _to be in the centre of attention, as always," she snarled. Spinning away, she tossed the words contemptuously over her shoulder: "You disgust me."

James started to go after her, but stopped, helplessness in his hazel gaze.

Marlene caught up with him, dark eyes still ablaze with anger. "You had better do something about this, Potter," she snapped.

James stood silent for a few moments, then nodded grimly.

Pulling out his wand, he cast a _Sonorus _charm on himself. "Listen here, you lot!" he shouted, magically enhanced voice booming over the crowds.

Lily turned around slowly, folding her arms as she looked at him.

"Not that it's anyone's business," he began, catching Lily's eye and giving her a defiant look, "but nothing happened that night in the bath. Whoever says different is a liar and will find themselves on the wrong side of the Marauders' wands. Understood?"

Lily saw Sirius nodding curtly, one arm wrapped soothingly over Marlene's shoulders.

Lily stayed where she was, still trembling slightly, not quite able to believe what had just happened.

"Well done, James," Marlene said approvingly as he passed her, and he stopped to give her a slightly grim smile.

"Lily," he said, catching her arm and pulling her into an empty classroom. "I am so, so sorry about this. I swear I didn't know about it – I would _never _do something like this to you, never. If I knew who did it –"

"I know who did it," Lily cut him off bitterly. "And so should you."

James swallowed hard, and she could see the conflicting emotions in his hazel eyes. "I'll… let me talk to her, all right?" he said at last.

But Lily shook her head. "No. This is _my _fight, and I'm bloody well going to fight it."

* * *

She found Rosamond in the bathrooms on the second floor, preening at her reflection in the mirror.

_"Ventus," _she said, and a blast of wind surged from her wand, knocking Rosamond into the wall and ruining her carefully-styled hair.

"What the – what is _wrong _with you?" the other girl shrieked, hands flying to her hair in dismay.

"I know what you're trying to do with those photos," Lily said, voice deadly calm. "And I'm not going to let you do it any longer."

Rosamond sneered. "Oh, aren't you clever. What, pray tell, am I trying to do? Not that it's even me putting up these photos."

"Don't you _dare _lie to me," Lily snapped. "I know it was you. And I know you want James back."

"What? You –"

"Shut up, Rosamond," Lily snarled, and _boy, _it felt good. "James is _never _going to come back to you, no matter how hard you try."

To her absolute surprise, Rosamond suddenly burst into noisy tears. "I-it's just so unfair!" she sobbed. "N-no matter wh-what I did, h-he'd never give me all of his a-attention. He'd still talk to y-you, no matter wh-what. I was always his s-second best, and it's all your fault! You, perfect, pretty, Head Girl Lily Evans!"

Lily stared at the girl, mouth dropping open. "You have _got _to be kidding me! While James was dating you, you're all he would talk about! He was _obsessed _with you, Rosamond! He wouldn't even stop talking to you even when he was with me!"

"Well, it never felt like that to me," Rosamond said bitterly. "There was always something about you – how _clever _you were, or how _kind, _or how much better you were than me!"

"Stop it!" Lily shouted. "You're turning James into the villain of this piece, and I won't let you! James is the best person I know. He would _never _act the way you say he did – you're just a needy, selfish bitch who can't respect his friendship with another girl."

"But it was never just a friendship, was it?" Rosamond shouted right back. "You always wanted more, didn't you?"

_"No, I didn't!" _Lily yelled. "I was _happy _that he was dating you!"

"But then you went and snogged him on the Quidditch pitch," Rosamond said viciously. "You only realised you liked him when he wasn't constantly asking you out anymore. The moment he broke things off with me, you were onto him."

Lily couldn't believe her ears. "What are you talking about? I only snogged him because – because… well, it's none of your business, but it _wasn't _because he was available again."

"Well, that's what it seemed like to me!" Rosamond said furiously.

"And so you resort to _this _to get me back? That's just despicable!"

"Yeah, well, you completely deserve it," Rosamond snarled.

Lily's temper snapped. "Do you want to know why James will never take you back?" she asked, voice eerily calm. "It's because you're everything he _despises, _Rosamond. You may be pretty, but you're selfish, cruel and petty, and you never cared about James. All you wanted was the _status _– oh, look at me, I'm James Potter's girlfriend. And don't you _dare _deny it – I know it's the truth."

Taking a deep breath, she finished, "So get the hell out of my life, _Rosamond. _James deserves much, _much _better than you, and so do I."

* * *

"That…was….incredible, Lily!" Mary exclaimed, bursting into Lily's room wearing a huge grin and a bright red scarf and mittens.

"What?" Lily asked, matching her smile.

"The Rosamond Incident," Mary explained in an awed tone.

Lily's smile widened, and she picked up her book again. "It _was _pretty awesome, wasn't it?"

_"Get the hell out of my life!" _Mary mimicked. _"James deserves much, much better than you, and so do I. _Truer words have never been spoken."

"Thanks," Lily said sincerely.

Mary hesitated at the door. "Lily…"

"Mmm?"

"Are you sure you don't want to come join us for the snowball fight?" Mary asked in a rush.

Lily smiled. "Thanks, Mary, but I'll pass."

Mary lingered in the door for a few seconds longer, looking awkward.

Lily dropped her book, raising her eyebrows. _"What, _Mary?"

"Oh, nothing," Mary said extremely unconvincingly.

Lily sighed, a slight smile twitching at her lips. "You always were a terrible liar. What is it?"

"I… I thought you should have these," Mary admitted, blushing a little as she dumped a small blue pouch into Lily's lap.

Lily unclasped it and shook out several pieces of parchment. "I don't understand?"

"Read them," Mary said with an encouraging nod.

Lily unfolded the first piece and read aloud, _"Lily. Everyone was so impressed by your project in Charms today – but especially me. I love having a smart fake girlfriend."_

She dropped the piece of parchment with a sigh. "Oh, Mary. Don't tell me you kept them all?"

"Maybe?" Mary said, wincing and drawing out the last vowel.

Lily rolled her eyes, but nevertheless picked up the next note. _"It's so cool that we can talk to each other about actual important stuff – our families instead of Benjy and Florence's latest escapade behind the greenhouses. You're incredible, Lily."_

She swallowed hard and reached for the next note, blushing a little as she read it aloud. _"You looked so pretty today."_

She dropped the note into her lap with the others and looked up at Mary. "I need to go talk to him, don't I?"

Mary smiled. "Yes. Yes, you do."

* * *

The snowball fight was still going strong when Lily reached the Quidditch pitch. She cleared her throat nervously, waiting for James to look up and see her.

When he did, the smile on his face made her heart skip a beat. "Lily!" he called happily. "You came!"

"James," she said, smiling a little herself. "I have to tell you something."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Marlene give Sirius a nudge, and the two of them made their way back to the castle, loudly calling the others to follow them for some hot chocolate in the kitchens.

"All right," James said simply, walking towards her.

She swallowed, the words sticking in her throat as he stopped, looking expectantly up at her.

"The other day I flew five circles around the Quidditch pitch with Marlene," she blurted.

James stopped, then broke into a grin. "That's great!"

"Yes," Lily agreed. "Well, now that I've told you, I'll just be on my way again."

He caught her arm, smiling slightly as he spun her around to face him. "Whoa, whoa. That's not what you came here to tell me, is it?"

She licked her lips nervously, hyper-aware of his hand on her wrist, and made the mistake of looking into his warm hazel eyes.

"No," she admitted. "It's not."

"Then what did you want to say?" he asked, voice a lot gentler than she had expected.

He still hadn't taken his hand away, she noticed, which was _not _helping matters.

"I…" she stuttered, then blushed, inwardly cursing herself for sounding so stupid.

"Come on," he encouraged, smiling that crooked smile. "Tell me."

"I need you to know that… that I fancy you, James Potter," she said in a rush.

James looked at her for a moment, completely silent.

Then he said, "The reason that I went to Rosamond's room that night was to tell her that things were over between us, because… because I'm in love with you, Lily."

Lily's heart fluttered pleasantly in her chest. "You what?" she asked, feeling a giddy smile spread over her face.

James smiled, a matching giddy, happy one that had her heart doing increasingly strange things in her chest. "You heard me, Evans."

Lily stood up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his, grinning madly as he immediately kissed her back, wrapping an arm around her waist and running his fingers through her hair.

They broke apart a few seconds later, both smiling like idiots.

"There's only one thing left to say," James whispered, resting his forehead against hers. "Go out with me, Evans?"

"Yes," she said, practically bursting with happiness. "Yes, of course!"

He leaned down and kissed her again, and although there was so much wrong in their world, in that moment everything was perfect.

* * *

**A/N: at long last, we have the happy ending. Thank you so much for reading this story, and an extra thank you if you followed/favourited/reviewed – it means so much to me!**

**It feels strange to finally mark this story as "Complete" – it was my first-ever official fanfiction, and I must say I'm really, really happy with the way it turned out. **

**So thank you again to everybody who came on this journey with me – I hope that you all have a really wonderful day further. **

**All my love,  
Lynn (0nce Upon My Story)**


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